The Legend of Zelda: Blood Chain
by adam148
Summary: If I summarise it, I'll spoil it, and that'd be a shame. Also, I don't really know where I'm going with this. :P Rated: T for violence and blood.
1. Chapter One

_Wow, it's been a while. Yeah, new story 'n' stuff. Unrelated to my old ones (surprisingly), and I promise (sort of) that this will be longer than my others, and that I will try not to abandon this one. Adam out._

_"He's back, and he's got a new trick..." - Magical Trevor 2_

Chapter One

_The cries of battle raged on, as swords clashed and blood was spilled. In the chaos of the battle, none noticed as an armoured individual, a determined look in his eyes as he forced his blade into that of his enemy. With a satisfied smirk he span around, slashing the long blade around to clear the area. Jumping in the air, he plunged his sword into the chest of his enemy, watching as he died. As he span around to meet his next opponent, he felt a fatal blow as a sword ripped through his back, and he fell into the inviting embrace of death..._

* * *

She woke in a cold sweat, gasping for breath as she sat bolt upright in her bed. She looked around her dark dorm room, staring uneasily through the gloom, listening to the other orphans breath easily in their sleep. This was the sixth night in a row that the strange dream had haunted her and she didn't understand why. She wasn't a violent person, so the dreams of battle and blood-lust were shocking to her.

Her name was Linda, and as far as she and the orphanage staff were concerned, she had lived in the orphanage in Castle Town all her life. Now seventeen years old, she was the oldest orphan in the orphanage and would soon have to leave.

Linda didn't know much about herself except that she'd been found on the doorstep of the orphanage with a lot of books, a letter with her name on it and a young foal. The orphanage had grudgingly taken her in, and attempted to sell the horse to keep funds up, however, the foal had repeatedly escaped and returned to Linda, so the orphanage had hired some builders to build a stable for the horse, allowing Linda to keep it under the condition that she allowed the other orphans to ride it as well.

The books on the other hand, had been locked away from her. The common opinion of the day was that orphans were all stupid, which Linda, if she weren't one herself, would have wholeheartedly agreed with. The kids around here were thick. However, Linda, who had been taught to read by a more sympathetic member of the staff, was a vibrant, intelligent person, but she was still forbidden from reading the books.

In all the time she'd owned the horse, she'd never once thought to give it a name. Anything suggested hadn't fit.

Back to the story, Linda decided that while it was night time she could steal the books. She was getting sick of the orphanage anyway, and she had the perfect getaway.

Changing her clothes and packing them into the saddlebag she kept under her bed at all times. Depositing it just outside with the horse, she ran to where she knew the books were hidden and picked the lock, using her sensitive long Hylian ears (which had been a point of ridicule when she'd been younger) to listen out for anyone who might be up.

The wall safe where the books were stored swung open, revealing a pile of books. Grabbing them, she headed back to the saddlebag, quickly put it on her horse, opened the gate and galloped off into the night.

* * *

In the morning, Linda was under a tree, reading through the books. She was rather disappointed that they appeared to be diaries, when she'd been expecting some big secret. The person who had written them (who seemed to be a man) talked about a 'legacy' of some sort. Flicking through the most recent book, she found a letter addressed to her from her mother. It explained why she had been left at an orphanage, and (to her shock), that she was the last descendent of a hero who had saved not one, but two worlds.

Eventually, tiredness overwhelmed her and she fell asleep.

She was woken by the soft nose of a horse nuzzling her face.

"Are you alright?" asked a female voice,

Stirring, Linda looked up, and promptly jumped to her feet as she recognised the person sitting on the white horse in front of her,

"Your majesty!" she curtsied, her head bowed low, "Excuse me, I didn't mean to be rude or anything, I was just-" she stammered, eyes locked on the floor,

"Please, call me Zelda," the woman on the horse said, dismounting elegantly, "And there's no need for the ceremony either," she dipped down so she could look at Linda's face, which was hidden by her hair, "What's your name?"

"L-Linda," Linda said nervously, still not looking at the Princess,

"It's a very pretty name," Zelda said encouragingly, before looking at the pile of books near where Linda's horse was sleeping, "Are those yours?"

"Um, yes," Linda said quietly, completely overwhelmed by the informality of the situation, plus the fact that the Princess of the Kingdom was actually talking to her! She didn't know much about Zelda except that she was the same age as Linda.

Zelda flicked through the book Linda had been reading before she fell asleep, and gasped in shock as she read the letter Linda's mother had written, which (unbeknownst to Linda) had the royal seal on it, which signified the truth in the words written.

"Linda, you're the last in the Hero's line aren't you?" Zelda asked, placing the book down on the floor, her brown hair framing her elfin face,

Linda replied despondently, "That's what the letter said... I've, been having these dreams, of a battle, from a long time ago... I don't want to be like that, I don't want to fight, or kill, or..." she started sobbing,

Zelda, in royal garb no less, did what she thought was natural, and hugged the sobbing girl until the crying ceased.


	2. Chapter Two

_Chapter Two. Man, this is a lot more serious than my other fics. Something's wrong with me. Anyways, enjoy. :)_

"_The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."_ - the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Chapter Two

The two girls were sitting under the tree discussing their collective history. Zelda, who had been schooled in this from a young age, knew a lot about her family's relationship with the Hero's line;

"The Hero of Time was the first member of your family we knew about, but a couple of generations ago we met another from your line from the Ordona province, who saved the country from a veil of Twilight, though I'm not sure what that means exactly,"

Linda didn't have much to contribute, "I don't know much except what I learned at the orphanage, which wasn't much, it was kind of glossed over because the teacher didn't think it was important," she sighed, and slumped back against the tree,

Zelda smoothed her dress, looking at the taller girl, "Well, for you it is very important," she looked through the books again, and re-read the letter Linda's mother had written, and looking through another book, found another piece of paper with a message written in archaic runes, "You told me you were found with a message with your name on it right?"

"Yes," Linda said, staring out at Hyrule Field in front of her,

Zelda passed the paper to her, "I didn't know they taught Old Hylian,"

"They didn't, I can't read this," Linda looked at the Princess, "Why?"

"Well, this doesn't say _Linda_, I assume they could only partially translate it, but from what I understand your name should be closer to _Alynnedé_," Zelda told her,

The name stirred a memory within Linda, "It sounds... familiar, and better than Linda, a lot better,"

Zelda nodded, "It means beautiful one," she smiled as Linda blushed profusely, and sympathetically changed the subject, "They'll be expecting me back at the castle soon, do you want to come with me?"

Linda, not wanting to be parted with the first friend she had made since the last one was adopted, and curious about her own history, agreed, "Let me just put these books away and then I'll follow you up,"

"Alright, _Alynnedé_," Zelda said slyly, mounting her white horse,

Linda, not allowing herself to be baited, smiled impishly, "If you're going to insist on that, call me Lynn,"

* * *

Linda, now Lynn in an attempt to re-establish her connection to her past, rode with renewed confidence through the streets of Castle Town.

This, coupled with the fact that she was following a mere few feet behind the crown princess was working the townsfolk into a bit of a bother. The children were in awe, some of the older ones heckling and asking if she were being escorted to her execution. Lynn brushed it off, she felt untouchable.

As they left the town and headed up the hill towards the castle, Zelda looked around apologetically, but Lynn just shook her head, smiling.

Reaching the castle, the two teenagers dismounted, Zelda telling one of the stable hands to look after Lynn's horse for her.

* * *

Zelda led Lynn to the East Wing of the castle, where her apartments were located.

"Right, I'm going to have to speak to father about this, I'm not really allowed guests, but I'm sure he'll understand when he finds out who you are," Zelda chattered as she walked, "You can stay in this room," she stopped halfway down the corridor, "If you need me I'll usually be in my room at the end of the corridor there," she pointed down the corridor,

Lynn nodded, unaware that she'd attracted the attention of a guard, "Alright, I'll um, see you later then,"

"I'll be as quick as possible, I promise," Zelda smiled uneasily, "In the mean time, have a bath, or just a nap, just get comfortable," she hurried off, and Lynn, now seemingly alone opened the door and entered.

The guard who was stationed at the end of the corridor edged nervously towards the door, if that had been who he thought it was...

He hesitated at the door, before knocking. The door opened and Lynn leaned out, "Hello?"

"Linda?" the guard asked, an eyebrow raised, "It is you!"

Lynn was completely perplexed, "Uh, do I know you?"

"It's me, Colin, from the orphanage," said the guard, relaxing his grip on his spear, his chain mail clinking. He lifted his helmet with one hand, showing Lynn his face,

"Oh, now I remember you!" Lynn smiled, "You were the little blonde kid who got adopted about eight years ago right?"

"Yeah, you taught me how to ride a horse," Colin said, "Still not that confident on that score, but I've grown a lot," he smiled weakly,

"Yeah, you're huge now, last I saw you you were the smallest kid your age, how old are you now?" Lynn asked, squeezing Colin's bicep in bemusement,

"I'm sixteen now, old enough to work, and I should really get back to my post before the Guard Captain shows up. Why are you here?" he asked inquisitively,

"Searching for my past, turns out I'm descended from a Hero, Princess Zelda offered to help me find the information I need," Lynn told him,

"Yeah, the Princess is very eager to help people. She usually greets me in the mornings. It was a bit weird for the first few months but I got used to it. Anyway," Colin leaned back, looking up and down the corridor, "It's been nice seeing a familiar face, good luck with your search,"

"Thanks," Lynn said cheerfully, "Oh, and for future reference, it's Lynn now," she said, before closing the door. She sat down in one of the empty chairs, looking around. She just couldn't get over how _clean_ everything was. As someone raised in the squalor of a cheaply run orphanage, it was rare she ever got to see a floor indoors that wasn't covered in a layer of dust and muck.

* * *

When Zelda returned, Lynn answered the door feeling a lot fresher than she had in a long time, "Hello," she said, smiling good-naturedly, her face falling when she saw Zelda's rather dejected expression,

"Father wants to see you, he doesn't seem happy about you being here," Zelda was refusing to make eye contact,

"Why?" Lynn asked, her eyes wide, searching,

The young princess just shook her head, "I don't know, just, come with me,"

"Alright..." Lynn was feeling nervous again. She'd only just got used to being around Zelda, who, as a royal, was incredibly (and weirdly) informal and friendly. The King wasn't known as a harsh or cruel man, but meeting someone of much higher status to herself freaked Lynn out, and that was without the fact that her presence was unwanted.

* * *

Reaching the throne room, Zelda stopped Lynn, "Be polite, I'll try and back you up here, don't say anything unless spoken to, and ignore my brother," she rolled her eyes to the heavens at the mention of the Prince, "He's a mite pigheaded,"

"Alright," Lynn replied, her voice no more than a whisper, _why_ did they have to do this _now_?

"Are you okay?" Zelda asked, her voice one of concern,

"I'll be fine," Lynn braced herself mentally,

Zelda gave her a final glance before opening the doors.

* * *

_Okay, before you ask: 1) Yes, I did make the name Alynnedé up (at least I think I did, Google search comes up nothing), 2) It's pronounced Ah-lin-day, and 3) This chapter is longer than the first. :P_


	3. Chapter Three

_The one where stuff happen!_

_"The major problem — one of the major problems, for there are several — one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.  
To summarize: it is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem." - _the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Chapter Three

The two girls entered the throne room. Zelda, regal as ever, remained composed as she strolled towards the king. Lynn on the other hand, was nervous and fidgeting, her face flushed a slight red.

Her father, King Daltus Hyrule, solemnly awaiting his daughters arrival, as well as that of her companion.

His son, Prince Nohan, lounged in his throne, smirking. This would be entertaining at least, and if not, well, Zelda's new friend was attractive.

As they reached the thrones, Lynn bowed her head, unaware that she was hiding her face behind her hair. Zelda curtsied as she greeted her father, and introduced Lynn.

"Father, this is the person I was telling you about, the last of the Hero's line. Her name is Alynnedé and-"

Nohan chuckled, "Hero? This little girl? Ha," he shouted extravagantly and scornfully, waving his hand dismissively, sitting upright in his throne,

Lynn winced at his words, but didn't look up.

Daltus cleared his throat, glaring at his son, "Nohan! Show some respect, you shouldn't judge on appearance alone," he turned to Lynn, and smiled encouragingly, though she didn't see, "Now, Alynnedé, I don't want to have to tell you this, but your presence here troubles me,"

Lynn finally plucked up the courage to look up, "Troubles you, your majesty? But I'm just an orphan..." she trailed off, looking down again,

Daltus cleared his throat again, a little uneasily, he hated this part of the job, "What I meant to say is, that whenever one of your family shows up in Hyrule Castle, trouble is usually not far behind,"

"Father, that's not fair!" Zelda stepped forward, coming to Lynn's rescue, "You know as well as I do that the Hero's line has only appeared when it was needed to stop any trouble. And you should also know, that whenever a child is born into the family with _this_ on her hand," she removed one of her silk gloves, brandishing the back of her hand towards her father, "That they're likely to be involved. That is, after all, why I was named Zelda," she finished, smiling,

Lynn looked up, and while she couldn't see what was on Zelda's hand, she saw that the King was speechless, and Nohan was looking at the hand in, what? Jealousy? It looked more like hunger...

Finally, Daltus found words to say, "What are you asking of me Zelda? That I let the child stay?"

"Yes, and allow her to find out about her past and study methods of survival, in case she _is_ needed," Zelda said, putting her glove back on,

Daltus sighed, "Fine, Alynnedé," the teenager looked up at him, her sky blue eyes wide and fearful, "You are an honoured guest in my castle. You may, as Zelda has suggested, peruse the Hyrule family archive to find the information you are searching for. You are also encouraged to learn the ways of your family, how to fight and survive. If your services are required, you will be summoned, now, Zelda, Alynnedé, leave us,"

Nohan sniggered as the two girls left the throne room.

* * *

"Well, that could have gone better," Zelda said sourly, as the walked back to her apartments,

"What? How?" Lynn asked, stopping,

"Well, father's word is law, and he just said you could never leave in case you're needed," Zelda explained,

"And I told _you_ that I don't _want _to kill people," Lynn said hotly,

"Lynn, fighting doesn't necessitate killing, and you have to learn how to survive," Zelda looked at her, her sea blue eyes hardened,

Lynn held her gaze before faltering, "Alright, fine. What's on the back of your hand?"

Zelda removed her glove again, before showing Lynn her left hand, "The mark of the Goddesses," she smiled thinly,

Sitting in the centre of her hand was a birthmark in the shape of three triangles, two holding up a third. The bottom left triangle pulsed, glowing golden.

"The Triforce of Wisdom grants me great knowledge, which can be a burden. Since the Hero of Time, every few generations a Princess will be born with this. As a recurring motif, a Hero will appear, usually in the possession of the Triforce of Courage," she pointed to the bottom right triangle, "To fight an evil who has been in possession of the Triforce of Power," she pointed to the top triangle, "In retrospect, both times that evil appeared it was the same person, granted immortality through greed. But he's been killed for good now,"

"Alright, but why was the Prince looking at you so strangely?" Lynn asked, brushing a stray strand of blonde hair out of her eyes,

"He might be older, but I was born with the Triforce," Zelda replied, "He's not used to being told he can't have things, he's a spoilt impudent scoundrel. He'll do no good as the monarch," she finished shortly, before continuing the march to her apartments,

Lynn ran to catch up, slowing after a few strides as she drew level with the Princess, "You think he'll do more harm than good?"

"You saw what he's like Lynn, he has a narrow view of the world. He thinks the people are his playthings and if he wants something he'll get it. Thankfully I was granted a little more humility and self-control. He will lead this country to ruin, and if by some miracle he dies before he has children, even I wouldn't be able to drag Hyrule out of the darkness," Zelda said bitterly, lifting her skirts a little to increase her speed.

* * *

As they reached Lynn's room, Zelda said, "I'll speak to the Guard Captain, I'm sure he'll be willing to teach you some basic sword combat. I'll have some maids sent up here to outfit you with more appropriate clothing. That'll take a while though, so you can go and look in the library, see if you can find any information on your family, I should be back in about an hour,"

"Right, what do you mean 'outfit' me? I'm not going to have to wear a suit of armour am I?" Lynn asked, eyebrow raised,

"No, I think we'll find you more appropriate clothing than clunky armour. Your ancestors had a very distinctive clothing style, we'll try and replicate that for you, alright," Zelda said warmly,

"Okay, but one thing, you said a Hero will appear with the Triforce of Courage, but, I don't," Lynn said, pointing at her unmarked wrist,

"A mark of a hero is bravery. When the time comes, it may well be you that is marked above the rest," Zelda said mysteriously, before departing.

* * *

Half an hour later, Lynn was in the library. She'd found nothing except an incomplete family tree, which had last been updated around twenty years ago. The family had branched off, and these branches had usually died out or disappeared, aside from the direct line, which finished on one specific point (and also contained a couple of people with the same name). The last generation recorded consisted of only one child, someone named 'Dyllan', and though Lynn had her theories, there was no evidence to prove that this Dyllan character was her father, and the lack of birthdate put a damper on things. Making a detailed and accurate copy of the family tree in a notebook, Lynn kept on searching.

* * *

She was still searching when Zelda arrived, "Any luck?"

Lynn shook her head, "Not enough that I know what to look for,"

"Well, I organised the lessons, and the maids are ready. I even managed to get hold of the head seamstress. She's usually charged with making royal clothing, but she was up for the challenge," Zelda said, motioning for Lynn to follow her.

As they walked, Lynn piped up, "Hey Zelda?"

"Hmm?"

"The books I was found with, why did no one tell me about my lineage, or even try to sell them off?"

"The books had a couple of simple spells on them. The first was to make the books impossible for outsiders to read unless you want them to, which would make them essentially worthless, but the second spell compelled them to store the books away. If the books were separated before you had read them, they will be drawn back to each other. I picked them up when I came across the books but didn't think to mention it," Zelda said, blushing slightly.

* * *

Back in Lynn's room, Lynn had her arms raised horizontally as the expert seamstress took many precise measurements.

"For these clothes you'll want practicality, but you'll also want decency. It doesn't do for a girl to be running around in a tunic and tights these days. I'll stay as true to the original design as I can, but I'll add whatever extras I deem appropriate," she explained as she took the length of Lynn's arm span,

"Thank you very much," Zelda said politely, "Can I make an addition or two?"

"By all means your majesty," the seamstress told her, smiling tenderly,

"Lynn, which hand do you use?"

Lynn fidgeted a little as a pin scratched lightly against her skin, "I use my left,"

Zelda nodded, "Right, well, I've asked the royal armourer to forge a shoulder plate to this design," she showed the seamstress a drawing she had made on some parchment, which Lynn couldn't see, "If you could pick that up tomorrow, that'll be fantastic,"

The seamstress studied the design on the parchment, "I like it, and it works great if her right is to be her shield arm. Anything else?"

Zelda considered this for a moment, before brightening, "Yes, there is one more touch, I can't believe I almost forgot!" she rummaged through some of the frankly ancient images of Lynn's more prolific ancestors, which was littered with design sketches and notes, until she found what she was looking for. She handed it to the seamstress,

"Ah yes, can't be doing without that," she chuckled. Lynn just wondered what it was and when she could put her arms down.

* * *

_Hurrah for assholish behavior, it is rife within Prince Nohan._


	4. Chapter Four

_Chapter Four. This chapter is probably the closest this story is ever going to get to humour. Also, I thank all those who have reviewed this story thus far._

_"__I'm the best there is at what I do. What I do best isn't very nice."_ - Wolverine, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Chapter Four

"Are you sure about this?" Lynn asked, glancing at Zelda,

"Yes, it's fine, it allows for manoeuvrability, flexibility _and_ I think you look nice in it," Zelda said, motioning for Lynn to turn around,

"Fine, but does it have to be so... green?" Lynn looked at the tunic she wore, feeling the coolness of the chain-mail she wore over a white under shirt. Her waist was held in a brown belt, buckled with a Triforce emblem. Her tunic, contained in a loose-fitting corset to prevent unnecessary swaying, split off at the centre, becoming skirt-like. Her wrists were contained with tough leather gauntlets, her thin, delicate hands in fingerless gloves. On her right shoulder, and strapped around her upper torso, was a metal shoulder plate, which covered the upper portion of her arm, also had a Triforce emblem on it. On her legs she wore black, tight-fitting shorts and tights, which were tightly bandaged for what appeared to be purely aesthetic purposes. Basic, sturdy brown boots finished the display, along with the final touch; a waist-length green hat, with a yellow motif sown in. Under this, her hair fell to her shoulders.

"It's green because past heroes have worn green," Zelda smiled, "And it suits you," she straightened her skirt,

"And I got the earring because...?" Lynn asked, gesturing at the blue ring in her left ear,

"A rite of passage your family goes through, signifies adulthood," Zelda smirked, "As an added plus, it makes you look tougher," she giggled softly as she said this,

Lynn looked at her reflection in a full-length mirror. _I could get used to this,_ she thought, _and she's right, I do look sort of tough, but in a good way._

"Alright, so, what now?" Lynn asked, turning to the Princess,

"How about we take a walk around the castle grounds before your first lesson, get you used to the clothes, get some fresh air into your lungs," Zelda suggested,

"I could do with a stretch, no offence, but I don't think I could stand living in a place this size," Lynn said, smiling,

"I know what you mean, it drives me mad sometimes," Zelda smiled back,

The two girls made their way outside into the Castle gardens.

* * *

In the gardens, Lynn yawned, "You know, in the morning, it really is quite beautiful," she said, admiring the view the gardens had of the kingdom, an endless desert to one side, and a sparkling lake to the other.

"Heh, yes," Zelda smiled, looking at her friend,

"What have we here? Thinking of doing something sinful Zelly?" a familiar, unwanted voice drawled,

Zelda winced at her unwelcome nickname, "What do you want Nohan?"

Her elder brother sauntered over, "I hear the little _Hero_ is studying sword combat. Wouldn't you be better off in the kitchen away from the men's work?" he taunted, his voice laced with scorn,

"Leave her alone!" Zelda stood, her hands balled into fists,

"Don't try it _Wise girl_, you might have your precious triangles," his eyes flashed dangerously, "But, as a woman, your tiny mind can't possibly comprehend the complex man's work that being in charge involves," he stepped forward, towering over the small Princess, "You will never run this country. After father dies, I will take over. Following next week's ball I will have a bride, and she will fulfil her only purpose in life by providing me with sons, who will take my place after I grow old. There is no place for women in politics, just sit quiet and look pretty, because that's all you're good fo-" Nohan was promptly stopped mid-rant by a fist connecting with his nose. The force behind it made him step back a few steps in bewilderment in bewilderment before falling down on his rump, staining his pristine clothes in the grass,

Lynn uncurled her fist, "Shut up, and leave her alone," she said coldly, glaring at the stunned figure on the ground, his usually coiffed blonde hair messy and unkempt. Lynn looked at the growing patch of damp in between his legs, and scoffed, "Wow, you're an even bigger wimp than I thought you were,"

Nohan, looking at his legs, squealed like the little pig that he is and ran away, "I'll get you for this!" he sobbed,

Lynn watched him go before turning to the Princess, who had tears running down her face, "Hey, are you alright?"

Zelda sniffed, "Yes, thanks, for that. He deserved it," she tried to smile, but tears kept falling.

Lynn just hugged the shorter girl, "Well, don't worry, the way he reacted he won't be telling anybody about it, bad enough that he got beaten in one punch from a girl, but that he wet himself afterwards? There is no way he'll ever bring that up," she held Zelda at arms length, "He's nothing but a bully, and I've learned from experience that bullies always get what's coming to them, okay?"

Zelda sniffed again, brushing a lock of golden brown hair out of her eyes, "Okay," she said wetly, smiling,

"Do you want to go back to your room?" Lynn asked, concerned,

Zelda shook her head, "I'll be fine, now come on, your lesson starts soon," she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief, leading the way to the Guards quarters.

* * *

"Alright, I won't pretend I've ever trained a girl in sword combat before, so I'll be blunt, I don't think you can do it, but if her majesty _insists_, then I shall give it my all, and I ask you to do the same," the captain of the Guard, Russell, told Lynn, "Now, take a sword from the rack, and try to hit me, you can try any method you like, but if I land three hits on you with this," he hefted his heavy spear, "We stop,"

Lynn went over to the sword rack and looked through the swords. Testing a few, she found that she understood each sword's faults, this was too heavy, another too unbalanced, until she found one that was just right.

Turning back to Russell, she held the sword loosely in her left hand, her legs already in a battle ready stance.

When Russell nodded for her to begin, she let gut instinct guide her, feinting a hit to the thigh before whipping it up to Russell's shoulder. But he was just as fast, dodging out of the way, surprisingly agile for a man his size. He rolled on the wet grass and sprang to his feet, facing Lynn.

Lynn span around, and ran in for another attack. Swinging the blade in a wide arc, which narrowly missed the guard captain, Lynn span the sword around in her hand, holding the sword so the blade was behind her, and swung the sword towards Russell, which he barely dodged.

Lynn yelled out viciously, going in for another swing, which Russell blocked with his spear, before shoving her with it, which caused her to stop her onslaught and back away a little. Best not to end this too quickly.

The two circled each other for a while, Lynn not entirely sure what she should attempt next, should she attempt another attack? Or try something a little more devious? Noticing that Russell was focussing more on facing her so he could block or dodge her attacks, she quickly formulated a strategy. Using her natural athleticism and cunning, she ran towards Russell. The guard captain quickly readied his spear for a second strike when Lynn flipped right over him and smacked him with the flat of her sword on his back.

* * *

"I guess you win then," Russell grunted as he picked himself up from the floor, rubbing his back,

Zelda, who had been watching from the fence of the training ring, clapped her hands, "Well done!"

Lynn dropped to the floor, gasping, "That was exhilarating,"

"You were a lot better than I expected, where did you learn to fight like that?" Russell asked, "Not once have I been bested in battle by a recruit," he said, but he said it cheerfully, as if proud,

"I don't know, once the sword was in my hand it was like instinct took over. I mean, I was always the most athletic when it came to games at the orphanage, but I've never done anything like that before," Lynn told him, laughing,

"You were right Princess," Russell laughed, "She is a natural,"

Zelda nodded, smiling. Lynn looked up at the Guard Captain, "What do you mean a natural?"

"I mean you're naturally adept at sword play. When training with swords, many are clunky, mechanical, but watching you was like watching a dancer. The sword moved like it was an extension of your being, and you were fast, almost unbelievably so. You were performing moves naturally that take lots of people weeks to learn," he helped the teenager up, "Yeah, after a few lessons even I won't have anything to teach you," Russell chuckled,

Lynn couldn't believe the praise she was receiving, and flushed with pride, which was greeted with Russell pinching her long ear.

"But don't go getting a big head, you have a long way to go before you become a true Sword Master," Russell let go of her ear, "Next time, we'll begin training with the shield," he walked off, as Lynn rubbed her ear, "Same time tomorrow!" he shouted over his shoulder.

* * *

Zelda and Lynn walked back into the castle together, Lynn still massaging her ear, which had gone pink,

"He didn't have to pinch so hard..." she grumbled,

"Oh stop complaining," Zelda told her, "He just doesn't want you to think you're better than you are,"

Lynn shouldered her new sword belt, feeling the unnatural weight of the sword on her back, "I still wasn't expecting to be given the sword as a gift,"

"The way you moved, it was like you and the sword were made for each other," Zelda said dreamily, "It was beautiful, in a way..."

"Hmm," Lynn said distractedly, looking up at the castle. She'd had the feeling she was being watched, which was confirmed as she saw a pale person whip out of sight from one of the windows,

"...and Russell was right, it really was like a dance, and- hey! Are you listening?" Zelda asked, looking at Lynn, before following her gaze, "What is it?"

"Unfinished business," Lynn muttered, before brightening up, "Come on, you can help me search for more information. I'll race you!" she laughed before running off, Zelda trailing behind as she yelled, in a particularly unladylike manner, about the problems of wearing dresses, corsets and high heels while running.

* * *

_You can mess with the Nohan._


	5. Chapter Five

_Chapter Five, the one where more stuff happen._

_"In a city gripped by fear and greed, on streets greased with blood and tears, who is left to look out for the little guy and see if he's got any money on him? Yes, it's the surprising adventures of me, Sir Digby Chicken Caesar!"_ - Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, That Mitchell and Webb Look

Chapter Five

A week later, Lynn had been through the length and breadth of every book in the castle library that could have contained any mention of her family, which was still very little. The only information that held any information as to her families possible whereabouts and history were locations where her more prolific descendants had visited and spoke about in the diaries (the books Lynn had been found with), among these was that her great-grandfather, who Zelda said had saved Hyrule from a veil of twilight, had lived in a small village in the south of Hyrule. Both Zelda and Lynn figured that the village, known as Ordon, would be the best place to start, as it was the most recent location recorded. The only problem was that Lynn was unable to leave the castle grounds, by order of the king. As soon as night fell, she wasn't allowed to leave the castle at all.

Zelda knew that the guards had been warned to keep an eye on Lynn, and the guards posted on the outer wall were given instructions to bring her in if she attempted to escape. So Zelda had to hatch a plan...

* * *

"Where are we going again?" Lynn asked, as the two girls walked down some stairs leading under the castle,

"I'll tell you when we get there, I don't want to be overheard," Zelda said, lithely jumping the last few steps. She had chosen to wear more casual dress today, and to hell with the consequences, she had said.

Opening a rather ornate looking door, wincing as the hinges creaked, Zelda motioned for Lynn to go through, lighting a torch, "I figured out an escape route. This cellar has a rail track running from here to Kakariko Village," Zelda pointed at the tracks set into the floor, and a small train with two carriages sitting upon it, "It hasn't been used in years, and it was built to provide an easy escape in case the castle ever came under attack, but you can use it as an escape at night,"

Lynn studied the track and train, and followed the track with her gaze until it disappeared into darkness, "Seems good, but I can't leave the castle after dark,"

"No, but Nohan's ball is tonight. I have it all arranged so you can make your escape. Bring your horse down here before dark, and get her on one of the carriages. When the distraction at the ball occurs, get down here and wait in the train. I have an expert engineer who will leave as soon as everything is ready. Bring everything else you might need when you bring the horse down," Zelda smiled as the two girls pulled closed the door, blowing out the torch,

"How will I recognise the distraction?" Lynn asked, taking the stairs two at a time,

"Oh, it'll be impossible to miss, trust me," Zelda grinned, her perfect white teeth glinting like pearls.

* * *

Later, as the ball started to get into full swing, Lynn and Zelda watched from the balcony above the banquet hall.

"So, when is this distraction supposed to start?" Lynn asked, adjusting her hat so it sat firmly on her head,

"Any minute now, just be patient," Zelda grinned, eating some of the delicious chocolate mousse the kitchen staff had whipped up, "Come on, eat something! This is your last meal here after all,"

Lynn's stomach grumbled, but she just shook her head, "Can't, I'm too nervous, if I eat something I'll have something to throw up," she looked at the people dancing below, "Why are we up here by the way?"

"Two reasons, first is that my brother doesn't want me to outshine him or you to bring up what you did to him last week, and second is that we don't want to be in the way when the fun starts," Zelda kept eating as a huge bang echoed throughout the hall, shocking the paid musicians into silence.

* * *

In the centre of the crowd of people stood a tall boy, his brown hair tousled and spiky, holding a small flintlock pistol to the air. He was dressed in the garb of an aristocrat, but with a curious addition, an eye-patch over his right eye.

"Alright then, time to liven things up!" he shouted, at which many of the men (and a couple of women) in the crowd cheered, and began drawing weapons from concealed holsters in their clothes,

The boy looked up at the balcony for a second before continuing, "Guys, you have one order, and one order only," he paused dramatically, and everyone in the hall watched him with bated breath, "Have fun!" he laughed as they began waving swords around dangerously, chasing the aristocrats about,

The boy jumped up on the table at the front of the hall, kicking bowls and plates in every direction, until a rapier to his neck stopped him,

"Evening Nohan," the boy grinned, turning to the Prince,

"Hawk," the Prince said shortly,

"Great party," Hawk moved out of the way of the rapier and jumped down, landing next to the Prince, "So how've you been?" he asked mockingly,

"What are you doing here?"

"Crashing a party, what does it look like?" Hawk picked up an apple, taking a bite,

"And why now?"

"Let's just say someone owes me a favour and I came to collect," Hawk grinned slyly, "Hey, guess what I heard?"

"What?" Nohan growled,

"I heard some girl hit you, and you were so scared you pissed your pants," Hawk laughed as he dodged out of Nohan's way, the rapier narrowly missing him,

"You know," Hawk said, drawing his own sword, which had a long, curved blade, "You always were bad at face to face combat mate,"

Nohan made to strike Hawk, but his strike was easily blocked. The two duelled, Nohan with wild determination, Hawk with carefree abandon as he blocked, parried and dodged every one of Nohan's strikes.

They both ignored the chaos around them, and as they moved across the hall, jumping and avoiding broken chairs, tables, and the occasional unconscious noblewoman, the two men were separated by other people moving into the way.

* * *

Eventually it was drawn to the point where Nohan was facing down pretty much every one of the party crashers, unaware that Hawk was standing right behind him,

"Alright then! Who wants some!" Nohan shouted, hoping he sounded braver than he felt, when a bottle smashed on his head, sending him straight to unconsciousness,

"Just wanted the pleasure of doing that myself," Hawk said, before shouting, "Alright guys, get going before you get arrested, go on," the party crashers, their fun over, quickly ran from the castle, using whatever escape methods possible.

Hawk just wandered slowly through the corridors, when he came across the person he was looking for,

"Hello Princess," he grinned.

* * *

Lynn was sitting in the train, waiting for this so called 'expert' engineer.

"Come on, where are you?" she asked the air, because she knew no one could hear her, when the door creaked open, and shut again.

A figure climbed into the carriage, seemingly carrying someone else over their shoulder.

The person they were carrying was deposited on the seat with a familiar sounding squeak, and then the torches were lit,

Lynn found herself sitting next to Zelda, and the expert engineer was none other than...

"You? You're the engineer?" she asked the tall boy, staring at the one eye he had visible,

"The one and only," Hawk grinned,

Zelda stood, feeling slightly disoriented, "You didn't have to carry me you know, I could have walked, you didn't have to carry me," she grumbled, smoothing her dress,

"But Princess, that would have made it less authentic, it'd make it look like you organised this," Hawk said with mock concern before laughing again,

"Wait, you two know each other?" Lynn asked, feeling confused,

"Yes, a few years ago Nohan tried to have me married off, and invited hundreds of possible suitors from all over the country, the continent even. Redd was there, and seeing that I didn't want to be there, started a riot. Nohan was never allowed to hold a party again without father's permission," Zelda giggled at the memory, "It was fun,"

"And we haven't been formally introduced, Redd Hawk, at your service," Redd grinned, shaking Lynn's hand, "You know those clothes do not flatter you at all, it should be a dress or nothing,"

Lynn blushed as Zelda giggled, "Nice to meet you Redd,"

"Now, if you ladies don't mind, I'm gonna start this train before we attract attention," Redd hopped out of the carriage, and filled the engine of the small steam train.

* * *

"Zelda, why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Lynn asked, sitting down next to her friend, as the train chugged silently through the underground tunnel,

"I wanted it to be a surprise, and I didn't want to say goodbye," Zelda smiled sadly, "And I thought, I'm never going to be queen anyway, so why not just leave?"

Lynn could see the flaws in this plan, it didn't do to just run away, but seeing Zelda's hopeful expression, didn't have the heart to point it out.

"So, Kakariko Village then?" Lynn asked, changing the subject,

"Yes, I want to visit mother's grave while we're there, is that alright?" Zelda asked,

Lynn, who knew that the recently deceased queen had been loved by many, nodded.

"And don't worry," Zelda added, "It's not as if we're going on a world saving mission or anything," she laughed.

* * *

_I think I'm being overly cruel to Nohan... nah._


	6. Chapter Six

_You will find that the following events are told in the order in which they occur._

_"__Screw the rules, I have money!"_ - Kaiba, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series

Chapter Six

Zelda and Lynn were sleeping in the carriage when the train ground to a halt.

Redd leaned in, "It only took an hour," he muttered to himself good-naturedly, putting a blanket over the two girls.

He stretched his arms, and yawned, "I could do with a kip," he looked around the cramped carriage space and whistled quietly, "The floor it is," he dropped lithely to the floor, hands behind his head, and was asleep within seconds.

* * *

Zelda was the first to wake up, blinking blearily as she sat up. She'd been woken by the sound of Redd snoring, and as she leant forward Lynn, who had been leaning against her, fell onto the seat, which woke her up immediately.

"What happened?" Lynn asked, before rubbing the side of her face that had hit the chair as she sat up,

"I think we fell asleep," Zelda said, removing the ornate and complicated headdress she wore carefully, wincing as it pulled a few strands of hair out, "Redd must have decided not to wake us up,"

Lynn stood up, her chain mail clinking, before crouching back down next to Redd. Nudging him, she said, "Redd, wake up,"

Redd grumbled in his sleep, so Zelda kicked him, which woke him up easily, "Wassat?" he said sleepily, rubbing his bruised rib, "Morning," he grinned at the girls,

"Do you mind getting out of the carriage, I'm getting changed," Zelda said, pointing at the door. Redd smiled ruefully before exiting, Lynn following behind, laughing.

Outside, Lynn shook Redd's hand again as they walked, "I didn't get to introduce myself before, I'm Lynn,"

"Lynn hmm? That short for anything?" Redd asked curiously,

"Alynnedé," she said, "I'm the last known descendant of the Hero of Time,"

"Well, that explains the green," Redd joked, "So, are we in any imminent danger now that you've shown up?"

"I don't think so," Lynn smiled, "Why do you wear an eye-patch?"

Redd looked at the eye-patch with his free eye, "Oh yeah, forgot I was wearing it," he laughed, pulling it off.

Underneath the eye-patch was another eye, the eye-patch had clearly been part of a disguise, however, unlike his left eye which was blue, his right eye was...

"Red?" Lynn asked, looking at the strange eye,

"Yes?"

"Not you, your eye, it's red,"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Redd said,

"How did it happen?"

"It didn't 'happen', I was just born with it, I had a Hylian father and a Sheikah Mother," Redd explained,

"Sheikah?"

"You know, the Shadow folk? They have red eyes," Redd said, "Mostly associated with myths but they show up every now and then. They're often protectors of the Royal family, though that hasn't been the case for generations now,"

"And so you're named Redd, because of your eye?" Lynn asked,

Redd smiled and chuckled, but didn't answer,

"Come on! Tell me!" Lynn pleaded, but was interrupted by Zelda emerging from the carriage.

She had her long golden brown hair down to her waist. She was wearing a white sleeveless top, the hemline of which stopped a good three or four inches above her navel. Tied around her neck was a simple red neck-scarf, and on her left wrist was a white bandage, which covered the back of her hand, hiding the Triforce mark. Around her waist was a red belt, which held up a pair of loose shin length shorts. On her feet she wore brown sandals.

"Zelda?" Lynn asked, as the girl who had emerged from the carriage looked very different, her once pale skin now tanned, a golden ring in her long ear,

"That's me," Zelda giggled, winking,

"What happened?"

"The power of the Triforce allows me to disguise myself," Zelda grinned, "To the untrained eye, I'm someone completely different,"

Redd shrugged, "I saw it coming,"

"You knew?" Lynn asked accusingly,

"Zelda keeps me updated monthly with the goings on around the castle, so I was mildly surprised when I received a _short_ letter from her asking me to crash a party and 'kidnap' her," Redd grinned, "And when I found out who was running the party, well, _how_ could I resist?" he smiled roguishly,

Lynn looked at Zelda questioningly, "He and Nohan have hated each other since they met ten years ago. Redd was always the better fighter too," she smiled,

"So I fed him some false information about someone owing me a favour, I trust I won't be subject to a nationwide manhunt?" Redd asked, an eyebrow raised in mock concern,

"Don't worry, I told father all about it in a letter. Don't expect any let up from Nohan though. He'll hunt you to the ends of the world if he has to," Zelda said grimly, "Now can we get out of here, this place is like a dungeon,"

"Right, onwards and upwards," Redd said cheerfully, opening a door and letting sunlight into the cellar-like tunnel, "Ladies first,"

* * *

_Kakariko Village,_ Lynn mused, _is definitely the kind of place I can imagine living. It's got this rustic sort of feel to it, and the townsfolk are friendly enough._

She was lying in the branch of a tree outside of the graveyard, waiting for Zelda, who was visiting her mother's grave.

"Say Redd," she asked the boy, who was slumped against the trunk fo the tree,

"Yeah," he grunted,

"Where did you get those people in the banquet hall, you know, the ones you told to have fun?"

"Hired 'em,"

"Ok then..." she said faintly, "Redd, where do you live?" she asked, twisting a lock of her in her fingers,

"I go where the wind takes me, I'm an adventurer, a rogue," Redd replied, looking up at the sky, before standing, "And on that note, this is where I leave you, tell Zelda I'll be seeing her,"

"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Lynn asked, dropping from the tree and landing gracefully,

"No, I've got some things to do," Redd turned to her, "But we'll see each other again, I guarantee it,"

"Bye," Lynn said to his retreating back, to which he just waved, not turning back.

* * *

Lynn's horse was munching on the thin grass when Zelda returned.

"Redd gone?" she asked,

"Yeah," Lynn replied, "Said he had stuff to do,"

Zelda nodded, then watched as Lynn's brown horse tossed it's white mane, "Have you still not got a name for her?"

"No, but my ancestors have each possessed similar horses, and both the Hero of Time and the last one both called their horses _Epona_, which I think fits, a lot," Lynn said,

Zelda nodded, "Epona it is then,"

Lynn stood up and stretched, "So are we leaving then?"

"Yes, I think so. Time to head south," Zelda said, while Lynn mounted Epona, taking the hand offered and sliding gracefully into the saddle.

* * *

_I am going to miss Redd. He was fun to write. But he'll be back. [/Terminator impression]_


	7. Chapter Seven

_Uh, this one was a BITCH to write (pardon my language)._

_"Oh no / We gotta go / We're not gonna live forever / Why? Why? We gotta die / You know that we'll be together / Hey hey we gotta say / I could never be a saviour / You don't have to be there / Cause I'm never never never / Comin' home..."_ - Dracula from Houston, Butthole Surfers

Chapter Seven

It was noon when the two girls arrived at the woods.

"So Ordon Village is through there?" Lynn asked Zelda, who was studying the map,

"Should be, yes, this is Faron Woods," Zelda replied, looking up from the map,

"Does it have to be so imposing?" Lynn smiled as she nudged Epona to proceed,

Zelda laughed at this, "It's from these woods that the Hero of Time's adventures first began, the village on the other side is quite new,"

"New?"

"Well, supposedly it was built where the Hero of Time grew up as a child, legend states that it was once populated by the forest children, the Kokiri, but they have disappeared. Your family stayed, and the village was repopulated and rebuilt by the humans who moved in,"

"Humans? Those are the ones with the round ears right?"

"Yes, and have since become an integral part of Hyrulean society. Humans have a knack for swift adaptation and quick-thinking which rivals that of a Hylian," Zelda looked around, "If we just stick to the path we should be fine,"

"So, humans are just Hylians but without any of the magical input from the Goddesses?" Lynn asked curiously,

"Seems like it, great fighters though," Zelda answered, "According to the map, we should be coming to a spring soon, do you want to rest up?"

Lynn nodded, "Yeah, I need to stretch my legs," she winced cheerfully.

* * *

Epona was drinking the water from the pool as Lynn lay on the bank, her bare feet being gently tickled by the water. She had her eyes closed and was just drifting off to a peaceful sleep when something small hit her directly in the forehead, hard.

"Ouch!" Lynn exclaimed, sitting up and rubbing her sore head, but there was no sign of what had hit her or where it had gone, "What was that?" she asked herself, before scowling at the horse, who was looking at her funny,

"That was me," said a voice, somehow above Lynn,

"What? Who's there?" Lynn asked, standing up and turning around,

"As I said before, me," the voice said again, giggling,

"Right..." Lynn said suspiciously, "And do you have a name?"

"Of course I do, but I'm not telling you, you're invading my spring,"

"Well, sorry if it seems that way, but honestly, we're just resting, we'll be on our way soon," Lynn said reassuringly, "And where are you anyway?"

Lynn felt something moving in her hair, and the voice said quietly, "Sorry, about attacking you, I haven't seen anyone in ages, since the monsters came, they attacked the village near here," a small thing with wings lifted itself from her hair and fluttered in front of her, "My name is Skye,"

The fairy, for that was what it was, was a small girl, with short blonde hair and a simple white dress. Four wings extended out of her back, fragile and thin. She emanated a soft white glow.

As she perched on Lynn's finger, Lynn asked, "Wait, monsters attacked Ordon?"

Skye nodded, "It was a long time ago, but when they came, all of the other fairies flew away, they were so frightened. I got caught up in the chaos and hurt my wing. By the time I'd got better, they'd all gone, and I couldn't find them, so I stayed here,"

"Well, I'm looking for my family too, you feel like tagging along? Maybe we'll both find what we're looking for," Lynn said as Skye lifted herself back into the air,

"Sounds good to me,"

"One more question, what did you hit me with?" Lynn asked, pointing to the red mark on her forehead,

Skye pointed her tiny finger at her own head, "I'm not good with forward planning," she laughed,

Zelda arrived back at the spring, having taken a quick moment to stretch her legs, "Who are you talking to?"

* * *

After a quick introduction, they soon arrived at the village.

"Skye, you really weren't kidding when you said monsters attacked," Lynn grimaced, "Look at it, there's nothing left,"

Zelda closed her eyes, "Skye, what did these monsters look like?"

The fairy, who had been hovering near Lynn's head, landed on the back of Epona and folded her wings, "They had green skin, and... awful green eyes," she shuddered at the memory, "Compared to you two, they were quite short, except for this really big one who rode on a giant pig. Oh, and they had horns," Skye finished, blinking tears out of her brown eyes,

"Bulblins," Lynn and Zelda said simultaneously,

"I thought they were at peace with Hyrule since the last Hero defeated their leader?" Lynn asked, turning in her saddle to face Zelda,

"They're known for allying themselves with the strongest, clearly at some point they found someone they believe to be stronger than Hyrule. Skye, when did they attack, can you give me a more precise time?" Zelda asked,

Skye closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead in concentration, her glow dimming before brightening again, "It must have been about a year ago,"

"Right, we may have to deal with that then," Zelda said, "For now though, I think I saw a house back there," she pointed towards the edge of the woods,

Lynn turned Epona back towards the woods, but stopped when she saw the house Zelda was referring to. Pulling a diary out of the saddlebag, she flicked through it until she found a sketch of her ancestor's house, "This is it," she said, unable to contain her excitement. She hopped off Epona, running up to the house, which was built _into_ the tree behind it, and climbed the ladder to the front door.

Trying the handle, she found it was locked, and there was no sign of a key, "Damn, and I was so close," she said miserably,

Skye flew up to the lock, "Hang on," she folded her wings behind her back and wriggled in, "This might take a bit, sorry, do you want to just wait," she asked, poking her head out of the key hole,

"Sure," Lynn said, climbing down the decrepit ladder, before looking around at Zelda, and frowning,

"What?" Zelda asked, looking around,

Lynn shushed her, looking at Epona, whose ears had just pricked up. Drawing her sword, she said, "I'll be right back, stay here."

* * *

Lynn cautiously re-entered the destroyed village, sword in one hand, shield in the other.

Listening carefully, she silently stepped towards one of the only remaining buildings, where she could hear the sound of _something_ moving.

Wriggling through the half-open door, making sure not to make a noise, she saw what was making the noise, though the half-light made it impossible to identify any distinguishing features.

Pointing her sword towards its back, she kicked the door off its hinges, flooding the house with sunlight.

"Agh!" it shouted out in shock, dropping something which made a tinkling as it hit the floor,

As it turned around, Lynn could see that it wasn't an 'it' at all, but rather a man. He must have been in his mid-twenties or early thirties. He was thin, with brown hair, a small goatee and a moustache. He had bags under his eyes, and his face could only be described as 'bony'. He was tall, with long arms ending in long fingers. He wore a blue trench coat, blue waistcoat with white under-shirt, a gold belt which held up a pair of green-blue trousers and black boots.

Holding a green Rupee (the currency of Hyrule), he smiled uneasily at Lynn, "Hehe."

* * *

_Guess who! :P_


	8. Chapter Eight

_Chapter eight, I'm tired._

_"So far away we wait for the day / For the light source so wasted and gone / We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days / Through the fire and the flames we carry on"_ - Through the Fire and Flames, Dragonforce

Chapter Eight

"Who are you?" Lynn asked, her sword at the man's throat,

"I'm... Linebeck..." he choked, dropping the green diamond,

"And you thought that you could loot this place now that everyone's gone?" Lynn demanded angrily,

"Please Miss, I'm just a simple man, I found this treasure, and as there was no one about, I took it," he smiled guiltily, before bowing low, "Miss, I have seen the errors of my ways! Please allow me to show my gratitude to you by offering my services!"

"Services? What are you talking about?" Lynn asked suspiciously, but replaced her sword and shield on her back,

"I saw you arrive on horseback. If you would kindly transport me to the other side of the woods, I will let you keep a fine horse carriage that I have in my possession, in case you take on any more passengers," Linebeck straightened up, "And I would be more than happy to help you in any way I can until such a time as you think I have repaid my debt,"

"Well, that would be useful, you have a deal," she said, Linebeck looked at her hopefully, before she added coldly, "But you're leaving anything you found, otherwise the deal is off and I leave you here. Now, drop anything else you've got and come with me," she left, heading back towards the tree-house.

Linebeck, after reluctantly parting with his treasure, followed Lynn, huffing and puffing as he struggled to catch up.

* * *

As Lynn arrived back at the tree-house, the door swung open, Skye floating in the doorway holding a key.

"Who's this?" Zelda asked, turning her attention away from Epona,

"Epona heard him, I found him rooting through one of the abandoned houses for money. He's offering a carriage in exchange for forgiveness and transport through the woods, though he has promised to stick around until I think he has repaid his debt," Lynn looked at Linebeck, "So, you go and get your carriage and bring it here, and attach it to Epona. And don't even think about running away, or I will hunt you down and gut you like a pig," she glared angrily at him as he sheepishly went to fetch the carriage,

"I haven't you seen you this angry since you punched Nohan, what's up?" Zelda asked,

"Nothing, I just don't like seeing people get away with things," Lynn said grumpily,

"Did you really mean it? Will you gut him like a pig?" Zelda asked worriedly,

Lynn just grinned, "Of course I didn't mean it! I promised myself I would never kill anyone, I just need him to stay true to his word, and the threat of his guts outside of his body seems to motivate him,"

"Hello! I've been waiting here and this key is getting heavy," Skye shouted at the pair of them, making them both jump before climbing the ladder into Lynn's ancestral home.

* * *

The inside of the house had a simple layout. There was a table, a few pictures hanging on the wall, the images hidden by dust, and a few boxes. A ladder led up to a small area where a bed was situated, and another ladder in the corner, leading to a cellar.

There was a letter on the table. Opening it, Lynn found it was addressed to her, written in the same hand-writing as the one hidden in the diaries, signifying that it was from her mother.

_Alynnedé,_

_If you have made it here, then you are in your ancestral home. This is the place many journeys began. I left you at the orphanage because I didn't know where else to leave you. I hope you will forgive your mothers weakness._

_This house contains any information that still survives from our family, including any artefacts our ancestors left behind. It is my only hope that you live a long peaceful life, and find your-_

The letter ended abruptly, the rest having crumbled away with time.

"Find my what?" Lynn asked herself, putting the letter delicately in her pocket, before turning to Zelda and Skye, "Lets have a look around, see what we can find," she said brightly,

It wasn't long before they found something,

"What's this?" Skye asked as she rubbed the dust off a framed document, "It's got all names on it, and lines connecting the names,"

Lynn bounded over to take a look, rubbing the majority of the dust off, "It's a lot more complete than mine," she got out her notebook and started filling the gaps in her family tree. Once she'd finished she realised something, "I have a brother out there somewhere,"

"What?" Zelda took a look at the family tree, "Well, I'll be damned,"

On the last line in the tree, where Lynn's full name, Alynnedé, was marked, another name was marked next to it, the birthdate three years before her own, and a name she had found in the library, Dyllan.

"Hang on, didn't that letter say you were the last in the line?" Zelda asked, scratching her head,

"My mother could have meant 'most recent' or something, but there's nothing on this to indicate that he's not alive," Lynn replied, carefully replacing the now dust-free family tree on it's hook on the wall.

"This place needs a good clean up," Zelda said, looking around, "I think this might be a good place to make our base of operations, and we'll have a bunch of information to fall back on. Also, if I go with you, and you get stopped, I'm more likely to be recognised and taken back home, and I'll just get in the way in a combat situation," she fished around in a pocket, before pulling out a blue stone that was tied by a piece of string, "Take this with you, it's something I found in one of the secret rooms in the castle once, there is a pair, and I have the other. The magic inside them allows us to converse freely between the stones, so if I find anything I'll be able to let you know,"

Lynn took the stone, and tied it around her neck, "Thank you," she looked at the stone, before a thought popped into her head, "What about food, how are you-?" she began to say, before being interrupted by Zelda,

"I can look after myself you know, I have been taught to recognise edible shrubs and mushrooms, and there's a small lake around here. If worst comes to worse I'll ask you to buy some food if you're in town," Zelda smiled encouragingly, "Now go on, before that man decides to make a break for it,"

Lynn grinned mischievously, pulled Zelda into a quick hug as a goodbye, and left the tree-house, Skye in close pursuit.

* * *

Outside, Linebeck was leaning against Epona, having dragged a carriage all the way up from the village before attaching it to her. It was a simple cart, a round wooden framework with a waterproof white canvas over it.

"So, where'd you get this?" Lynn asked,

Linebeck quickly jumped to attention, "My father bought it, and passed it on to me. Unfortunately, as I was resting up near the village my horse bolted, and disappeared into the woods. I'd heard terrible rumours about straying away from the path, so I didn't dare leave to find out,"

"Rumours?" Lynn asked Skye, who was fluttering about her head,

"Age old stories, about people who wonder into the forest and fall under it's curse. They turn into Stalfos, animated skeletons. They no longer think or feel, it's truly a fate worse than death, your soul trapped to walk the earth forever more," Skye said, grinning maliciously as she saw Linebeck's terrified expression, "What's the matter Becky? Scared of a little ghost story?"

"Hey, don't call me Becky!" Linebeck shouted at the fairy indignantly, much to Skye's delight,

"Come on, don't start fighting now, it's a long trip and I don't want to be stopping every five minutes to separate you two," Lynn laughed, before extending a hand to Linebeck, "I'm Alynnedé, my friends call me Lynn, but you haven't earned that right yet,"

"Yes, Miss Alynnedé," Linebeck stuttered awkwardly,

Skye found it incredibly amusing watching the grown man quiver under the young woman's gaze.

* * *

Lynn had unsaddled Epona, instead using her to pull the cart, while Lynn, Linebeck and Skye remained in the carriage, Lynn guiding the horse using the reins.

"So Linebeck, what brought you to Ordon in the first place?" Lynn asked conversationally,

Linebeck jumped as his name was mentioned, much to Skye's delight, but replied, "I heard a rumour that Ordon Pumpkins were selling exceptionally well, but while demand had increased, supplies had run short, and I thought I could capitalise on this and collect some to sell, however, when I arrived here there was nothing left. Everyone had left about a year ago because of some monster attack. And then my horse ran away, leaving me stranded here. I'd been near the village for about a week, surviving on what little food I'd brought with me and anything I could find in the village," he finished, his green eyes downcast,

"Right," Lynn looked out ahead of her, when Skye flew out in front of her, "Skye? What's wrong?"

"We have to stop here," Skye said urgently,

"What? Why?"

"We just do, follow me!" the small fluttering girl whizzed out of the carriage, Lynn following behind.

Lynn looked back at Linebeck, "Aren't you coming?"

The man whimpered, "No, I, uh, have to look after the carriage, yes, the carriage, and the horse,"

"Right..." Lynn said, before making an imperceptible nod at Epona, part of a system she'd established with the horse long ago. Epona snorted, and dug her feet into the dirt. She would now not move until Lynn returned.

* * *

Lynn followed Skye through bushes, ducking under branches and climbing over large roots, until they reached a cave mouth.

"What's this?" Lynn asked, gasping for breath,

"I can hear a whispering, something calling for me," Skye shook her head, "All I know is that we _have_ to go in,"

"Right, well, I guess if we must, we must," Lynn said, unsheathing her sword.

* * *

_I like writing Linebeck, he is fun. And so is Skye._


	9. Chapter Nine

_Oh, this chapter was fun to write._

_"Oh that's good, fantastic that is. Twenty minutes to save the world and I have a post office. And it's _shut_!"_ - The Doctor, Doctor Who

Chapter Nine

Entering the cave cautiously, using Skye as a light source (it was dark), Lynn strained her eyes to see what was in front of her.

Aside from naturally carved rock, there was really nothing except a few insects, until a faint glow could be seen up ahead.

Moving towards the light, Lynn and Skye found themselves in a large round room, with a large, glowing crystal structure in the centre, each crystal was shaped like a flower petal, and there was a pool beneath it. The glow seemed to emanate from the crystal, bathing the small cave in a soft blue light.

"Where are we?" Lynn asked,

Skye bobbed up and down, "I don't believe it, this is a fairy fountain," she half-shouted, unable to contain her excitement, before stopping, "But, where is everybody?"

"It looks abandoned," Lynn said softly, cupping her hands to catch Skye as she descended sadly,

"It's not... abandoned..." a voice said, female and seemingly from nowhere, "It's dying..."

"Who's there?" Lynn asked nervously, readying her sword,

"Do not fear child... I mean you no harm... I am the Great Fairy of this fountain..." the voice was now emanating from the inside of the fountain, "It is my great regret... that I am currently unable to aid you... however... my life source is... being drained by a dark shadow deep within... the fountain... is poisoned..."

Skye was now fluttering up and down more animatedly, "Lynn! We have to save this fountain! Quickly!"

Lynn, who had been planning on doing this anyway, just nodded, "Where do we have to go?"

The Fountain seemed to sigh, as a portal opened up in the pool, "Brave child... follow..."

Lynn walked over to the hole, and, unable to see anything below, closed her eyes, "Here goes nothing," she jumped in.

* * *

The hole, as it turned out, was like a pipe, and after sliding down it, Lynn found herself in a pitch black cave, which not even Skye's pale glow could penetrate.

Suddenly, the stone around Lynn's neck burned white hot, "Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said a familiar voice,

"Zelda?" Lynn asked, lifting the stone to eye level,

"Yeah, I can see everything you do, and obviously you can hear me. But honestly, wouldn't it have been a good plan to have brought a light or something you could see with?" Zelda replied, and somehow Lynn knew that Zelda was making an 'Oh Goddesses, you can be so stupid' face,

"Fair point," Lynn grumbled, before noticing a stick at her foot, "Hang on..."

Picking up the stick, which was quite thick and long, and pulling out a small box of matches, Lynn lit the end of the stick, illuminating everything within a few feet of her,

"That's better, I can actually see you now," Zelda said,

"Sometimes Zelda, I just get the feeling you enjoy looking at me,"

Zelda giggled, "Shush you, now, if I remember correctly, in this type of situation, your ancestors would find torches to light to illuminate the area. It saves on fighting in the dark as well. Sometimes it even opens doors, so your safest bet is to hold the light to light up as much as possible, so you can see the walls maybe, and keep an eye out for any torches or monsters," she summarised, before falling silent again,

"Great, thanks," Lynn said, lifting her makeshift lantern up until she could see the walls.

To her surprise, the tunnel wasn't actually all that wide, though there was no going back the way they came in.

Skye was hovering behind Lynn, in single-minded determination to save the fountain.

* * *

After making their way through several rooms, navigating around and through some curious puzzles (Zelda had been right when she'd said lighting torches would open doors), and finding a map of the area in a chest, the two made it to a large room, which appeared to be a platform, suspended by vines.

As they entered, the door slammed shut behind them, bars dropping and blocking the path back.

"Oh, that can't be good," Skye said, as a bulb forced it's way out of the ground. They had encountered similar bulbs throughout the dungeon, each one contained a long necked, ravenous plant that would attempt to take a bite out of Lynn. However, the Babas had been nothing compared to this monster.

Emerging from it's bulb, the neck of the creature was at least three times as long as Lynn's body, and it's large head, which strangely possessed one large eye in its bulbous crazed head-mouth thing.

As it lunged towards her, Lynn dodged backwards. The shock of its head making contact with the platform had, however, temporarily stunned the beast, and as it's eye rolled around in its socket, Lynn made a stab at it.

The creature screamed, but didn't move, allowing Lynn to make a few more hits before it finally pulled its oversized head away.

And so the battle raged on, Lynn diving out of the way every time the beast attempted to take a bite out of her, and attacking every time it hit its head on the platform. Until, thankfully it was over.

As Lynn made a final slash at the eye of the beast, it screamed, thrashing about, getting its head tangled in the vines holding the platform up. Until, inevitably, they snapped.

* * *

The platform plummeted, Lynn and Skye holding onto vines set into the floor of the platform as the crazed beast screamed its last and shrivelled away to nothing. However, the platform was still falling, and Lynn was smart enough to know that when the platform hit the bottom of this shaft, it would stop abruptly, but she would keep going, becoming flattened onto the platform for all eternity.

Closing her eyes, she waited for the end.

* * *

It didn't come, and when she opened her eyes she found herself floating several feet _above_ the platform, before being gently lowered down to the bottom of the shaft.

The Great Fairy's voice echoed throughout the cavern, "My child... the time of your death... is not now... the curse... has been eased... as thanks... accept this gift... in the hope that it will aid your quest..."

As the voice stopped, a flood of light seemed to emerge from the walls. Looking closely, Lynn could see that each orb of light was a fairy. As the conglomeration of fairies drew closer, Skye was forced to dodge out of the way as the countless fairies sped their way towards Lynn.

Lynn flinched instinctively as each fairy flew into her. But instead of feeling them smack into her and bounce off, she felt as if a cool breeze was blowing around her body. Opening her eyes, she found herself in an empty void.

A face emerged from the emptiness, which Lynn instinctively knew to be the Great Fairy, "Young Alynnedé... your courage is unparalleled... accept this fairy's gift..."

Lynn could only watch as a flower shape appeared, similar to that of the crystals at the fountain, and opened up. A breeze blew through it, and everything went dark.

* * *

Back on the platform, Lynn found herself standing alone. She felt... strange.

Skye floated down to her, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I think so..." Lynn said, before trailing off, clutching her head, "Agh!"

"What's the matter?"

"My head, ah! It hurts!" forcing her eyes shut, Lynn couldn't help but feel something strange was happening to her body.

She felt two growths pushing through her back, and cried out as her tunic tore at the back.

She felt the sword in her hand shift in weight, as well as the shield on her back becoming thinner and lighter. She also had the strangest sensation of her mass disappearing.

Skye looked on in awe, "Wow..."

Finally, the transformation stopped.

"What happened Skye?" Lynn asked, brushing hair out of her eyes,

Skye looked at her, "You changed, the Great Fairy..." she sniffed, "You smell different,"

"Thanks, that explains everything," Lynn exclaimed sarcastically, rolling her eyes,

The stone around her neck burned again, "Lynn, the Great Fairy used whatever power she could spare to transform you _into_ a fairy,"

At this revelation, Lynn took a look at herself. She found that she now had four large, but thin wings. Her clothes had magically altered to fit her new lighter form, now a thin green top, the hemline of which did not reach her navel, and a green skirt. Her boots had lengthened to her knees to make up for the bareness of her legs. Her sword had become longer, and lighter, the blade was now pink with black roses engraved on the flat of it. Where her shield had been was now a quiver stocked with arrows and a bow. Lynn also found that she was giving off a faint green glow.

"Your ancestors have been magically transformed before, Lynn, each form always comes with its advantages," Zelda said through the stone,

Skye nodded, "It's true, as a fairy, you're light enough to fly, and I'm sensing that the amount of arrows in that quiver is infinite, because of the magic power you possess,"

Lynn was about to interrupt before Zelda spoke again, "The Great Fairy awoke the natural magic ability within you, you just have to learn how to use it,"

Lynn was about to say something when Skye butted in, "Well at least the Great Fairy didn't make you take on the _form_ of a Great Fairy," she giggled,

"Why?" Lynn asked nervously,

"Because you'd have been naked," Skye said between giggles, almost dropping out of the air at the thought,

Zelda obviously found this amusing too, because she joined in with Skye's giggles, while Lynn was suddenly thankful that while the clothes she wore probably wouldn't protect her as much, she still had clothes to wear.

* * *

_Dungeon crawling and form changing :P_


	10. Chapter Ten

_Ok, I'm tired._

_"She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we're all men of our word really... except for, of course, Elizabeth, who is in fact, a woman. "_ - Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Chapter Ten

Lynn was growing accustomed to her new form, her pale green glow now more of a pink tint, which she preferred.

Flight was awkward in combat, she had to avoid the wooden creatures known as the Deku Scrubs, as their ability to fire projectiles from their round mouths put her at risk of losing a wing.

While she had lost her shield, she found that the now longer sword, while lighter, now required two hands to be used to its full ability. The sword dealt blows four times stronger than that of her regular attack, however the wide sweeping blows it delivered left her open to attack for at least a second or two.

The bow was imbued with magic, which allowed Lynn to utilise her newly found magical ability to good use. She discovered that fire magic worked particularly well in this dungeon, as most of the monsters here were wood-based, and would ignite easily, making her job easier.

Her wings _were_ useful, however, in reaching places she couldn't have otherwise reached, though she could only stay airborne for a short time before she got tired and had to land.

There was, unfortunately, a slight problem with her new body. While her body would no longer remain damaged for very long due to the natural ability of a fairy to heal quickly, her clothing didn't offer much in the way of protection, so she received more damage as a result, and as she was currently stuck in this form, she couldn't change to her regular form which at least offered her some protection.

Another problem she found was that walking got to be a real struggle. Floating was easier, but she couldn't do it while fighting in case she damaged a wing, which Skye assured her would take a while to heal, so she had to land, take out the enemies, and then take flight again, which she found incredibly annoying, along with a certain feature she noticed when she reached a stream, which flowed with the crystal clear water of the fairy fountain, allowing her to see her reflection.

"Skye, why is my hair tinted pink?" she asked, unimpressed,

"Oh I thought you knew," Skye said quietly, "I quite like it,"

Lynn sighed, but moved on.

* * *

After encountering several locked doors (and finding a key which opened them, but broke after every one), they made it to a large, cavernous room. In the centre, was a spring, the source of the fairy fountain's power. A large creeper snaked it's way into the source, and seemed to be leaking something into the water, before it seemingly disappeared.

"The water seems fine, but the taint is still present within it, anybody who would drink this would suffer an agonising death..." Skye said sadly, "The Great Fairy must be using up her life force just to purify the water, we have to hurry,"

"So, what? Cut the vine and pull it from the spring?" Lynn asked,

"Definitely," Skye said determinedly, following Lynn as she made towards the vine. However, about halfway across the room, inevitably, something happen.

A huge head, similar to that of the Baba beast they had encountered earlier dropped from the ceiling, while two other, smaller, ones smashed through the walls, arranging themselves like fists in front of the larger one.

Lynn would have to think quickly here.

* * *

It soon became apparent that while big, the monster was not coordinated. It was clumsy, and the limited space meant that the bigger head would repeatedly stun itself, leaving it open to attack. However, Lynn was unable to get in to attack due to the smaller heads viciously defending it. She had to somehow take out the smaller Babas before attacking the big one.

Flying up to a ridge just out of reach of the attacking heads, she drew an arrow, ignited the tip, and sent it flying towards the smaller head. The head screeched, before waving about blindly, eventually smacking itself into a wall and stunning itself.

After repeating this with the other head, the big head stunned itself again, allowing Lynn to swoop in and attack its eye, before dropping back and repeating the process.

There were a couple of times when Lynn was almost swallowed, and she was not without injury as she delivered the killing blow to the huge beast.

The two smaller heads bumped into each other as the larger head delivered its death cry, green liquid pouring from its eye. It shrivelled, and exploded, the vine poisoning the spring disappearing with it.

"You did it!" Skye cried happily, as the water began to flow normally again, free of the taint the monster had put upon it,

"Well done, young hero," the Great Fairy's voice echoed throughout the cavernous hall, "Now, allow me to transport you back to my fountain..."

A blue, flowery portal opened beneath Lynn's feet. She had the distinct sensation she was being sucked through a tube, before everything went dark again.

* * *

Lynn and Skye found themselves back inside the fairy fountain. The room was now fully illuminated, the blue glow now completely filling the room. The crystals were opened fully, resembling a flower even more. Floating above the crystals was the great fairy.

Skye had been right, the woman was completely naked, though the more private parts were thankfully covered by the fairy's long hair, which was the same shade of blue as the crystal.

She smiled warmly as Lynn and Skye saw her, "Well done, Alynnedé, you proved your courage and ingenuity, and saved my fountain. The damage done here will take time to recuperate, however, you do deserve a reward. First, I shall return you to your normal state," she waved her hand, and Lynn felt her body shift, and, looking down, found herself back to normal, clothes and all. Any injury she had received had healed magically.

Lynn suddenly felt a burning sensation on her left wrist, and pulling off her gauntlet, she found a small mark, in the shape of the classic image of a fairy (an orb with four wings) burnt into her wrist,

The Great Fairy nodded, "Focussing your power into this mark will allow you to access that form again. My second gift is empowerment to your fairy companion," the Great Fairy once again waved her hand, and Skye's glow burned an intense green before turning white again, "I grant you access to my forest powers, do with them what you will. And as for my third gift, Alynnedé, I give you the bow and arrow, however, outside of your fairy form you will not have unlimited ammunition," a smile played on the lips of the fairy as the quiver, filled with arrows and an already strung (and impossible to snap) bow, "And with that, I leave you, live well," the Great Fairy sank into the fountain.

* * *

Leaving the cave, Lynn and Skye made their way back to Linebeck, who was trying in vain to make Epona move.

"Come on you daft horse, move it!" he grumbled, not noticing the two girls, until Lynn cleared her throat, "Ah! Miss Alynnedé, I didn't see you there, you were gone such a long time, I was merely trying to move the horse and carriage to one side of the path so as not to get in the way of anybody passing by,"

Lynn looked at him disbelievingly, "Right, well, get in, we're moving on," she nodded at Epona, who whinnied in her small victory over Linebeck.

* * *

Back on the move, Linebeck asked, "So, what was with all the hurrying off for?"

"Oh, Skye detected a fairy fountain in peril, we saved it," Lynn said,

When Linebeck pulled a face that told her he didn't believe her, she pulled out her wallet (which was essentially just a small bag with money in it), she said slyly, one eye on Linebeck as she turned to the fairy, "How many Rupees do you think we found in there Skye? Three, four hundred?"

Skye, catching on, bobbed up and down before replying, "I'd say closer to six hundred, Lynn,"

Linebeck, now that the conversation was on the subject of money, had been listening intently, before he realised he was being duped.

"Very funny, ha ha," he grumbled as the two girls exploded in a fit of giggles, as the carriage pulled by Epona trundled on through the forest.

* * *

_Boss battle and Great Fairy reward. Also, a chance to see Linebeck being miserable._


	11. Chapter Eleven

_This took so looooooong! D:_

_"I won't argue that it was a no-holds-barred adrenaline fuelled thrill-ride, but there's no way that you could perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork."_ - Nicholas Angel, Hot Fuzz

Chapter Eleven

By the time they reached the other side of the woods, the sun was setting. Looking out over Hyrule Field in the orange light of the falling sun, Lynn was the only one still awake in the earlier hours of the next morning.

"Can't get to sleep?" Zelda asked through the stone,

"No," Lynn replied, looking at the full moon,

"What's up?"

"I don't know," Lynn sighed, "I'm thinking about how much my life has changed in the last week, I've gone from orphan to Hero spawn, regular girl to warrior. It's a bit overwhelming,"

"You've never been 'regular' Lynn, not normal or ordinary," Zelda told her, "The things you faced in that dungeon would have made many quiver in fear and run. You are a Hero, and that's all that matters,"

Lynn tutted in disbelief but didn't say anything, turning her eyes away from the stone and towards the moon hanging in the sky.

In an attempt to change the subject, Zelda asked, "You haven't got a surname, do you?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Lynn asked in reply, confused,

"It's just, not one of your ancestors has had the same surname. And you haven't got one, due to you... uh..." the Princess trailed off awkwardly,

"Due to me being an orphan, I know," Lynn said darkly,

"Well, why don't you make one up? Give yourself some individuality," Zelda suggested,

"But, I don't know what would be appropriate for me," Lynn grumbled, "I mean, Alynnedé Runaway is not exactly a promising name," she scoffed,

"Well, you cleared the water of that fountain from the poisonous taint, why not _Clearwater_? I know it's not exactly that original given the circumstances it's associated with, but I think it's very fitting, especially since your eyes are the exact same shade of blue as the water in the fountain,"

"And _how_ do you know that?" Lynn asked incredulously, "You know what, never mind, I agree, Clearwater is a good name,"

"So, Alynnedé Clearwater it is?" Zelda asked cheekily,

Lynn smiled, "Alynnedé Clearwater it is, Zelda Hyrule," she smirked because she knew Zelda would be annoyed.

* * *

At some point Lynn must have fallen asleep, because she remembered waking up.

After cleaning up and changing her under-shirt behind a tree so Linebeck couldn't see, the small party set off again.

Lynn had decided to avoid Castle Town because of the risk that she would be recognised and taken back to the castle. Zelda has suggested that after visiting the forest, she should head to Death Mountain, which meant heading north, back to Kakariko Village. As the mountain was known to have been visited by Lynn's ancestors, many of whom had become sworn brothers with the local Goron tribe, it was possible that Lynn would find a clue about her parents or her brother, Dyllan.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Hyrule Castle, a certain disgruntled Prince was storming about in his room.

"How can father just let that scum just waltz in here and ruin that party and not do a damn thing about it?" Nohan fumed, "What's more, he kidnapped my brat of a sister, and still nothing has been done!"

It was not uncommon for the Prince to talk to himself in times of great stress (though it had been happening more and more lately), and though he had anyone punished, fired or (in some rare cases) _taken care of_, rumours still spread among the castle staff and guards of his sanity. To summarise, they all thought he was completely, utterly mad. But that didn't stop them being afraid of him.

"And even worse, that pathetic little girl they deign to call a hero escaped right under everyone's noses!" Nohan had no problem with being overheard, he didn't consider anyone's importance other than his own, and would frequently talk about his plans under the delusion that everyone was too stupid or pathetic to be able to do anything about it.

It isn't, therefore, _too _surprising that not one of these plans has actually worked as he hoped it would. If at all really.

Nohan had been going on like this for the last couple of days, since he had woken up in the castle infirmary. Redd's assault at the party had only fuelled his anger, to the point where he wasn't even looking after himself anymore.

His blonde hair was dirty and unkempt (and still had pieces of glass in it), his blue eyes, so similar and yet so unlike his sister's, had bags under them from the lack of sleep he'd been getting. His clothes stank of alcohol and sweat, as he hadn't bothered to change since the party.

Eventually he came to a decision, he would find a way to gain more power than his sister, with her _stupid_ little Triforce (which he secretly desired for himself), destroy the girl Hero, and finally take his revenge on Redd.

Muttering to himself as he sped down the corridors towards the Guards Quarters, he couldn't help but put a slight spring in his step. There was no way this plan could _possibly_ go wrong.

* * *

Zelda sighed as she moved a pile of books, coughing as yet another cloud of dust blew into the air. She understood that the house had been empty for almost twenty years, but a lot of this stuff had been around for much longer, some of it even bordering on the centuries. She had a lot of natural magic at her disposal (while it usually took a Hylian many years of discipline to learn magics, with a few exceptions, having the Triforce of Wisdom _does_ give you a head start), and used it to clear away a lot of the dust (and dead bugs).

Having done with this, Zelda decided it was time to eat. Compared with the huge banquets she was used to, her meal of herbs, fungi and eggs (which she'd stolen from one of the wild chicken-like Cucco's nests) was positively Spartan. However, while humility was not something her brother possessed, she had a double dose, and was thus perfectly content with the small meal.

Looking through some of the old boxes, she found a couple of old diaries. Using the innate ability of the Triforce of Wisdom to translate any language into one she could understand, she started flicking through it, at first surprised that it was a first hand account of the Hero of Time's adventures, but quickly engrossed in the tale of time travel.

* * *

Lynn stopped the carriage as they reached the bottom of Death Mountain, just outside Kakariko Village. The sun was setting again, the carriage had its advantages, but it also had its problems as well. Time consumption being one of them.

She and Skye left Linebeck in the carriage as they headed up the mountain, his snoring fading away as they climbed higher and higher.

* * *

_A little catch up with some other characters so I didn't have to write six or seven hours of sitting in a carriage doing nothing. :P_


	12. Chapter Twelve

_Do you know how hard it is coming up with names for characters that fit the Zelda universe? :(_

_"In order to experience freedom; one must be off the chain" _- Reign of the Disruptors, Half-Life 2 Machinima

Chapter Twelve

Looking up at the ominous mountain as the sun bathed it in an orange glow was incredibly disconcerting.

"It makes it seem bigger than it really is," Lynn told Skye, the little fairy taking cover in Lynn's hat for fear of falling rocks, which were few and far between, but still a real threat to something that is only a few inches big.

"Well, I'm glad it isn't, we've been climbing for hours already, we're still not any closer to the top," Skye complained,

"I'm sorry? We? I've been doing all the hard work," Lynn laughed as she pulled herself up on to the next ledge, "And it was _your_ idea that we didn't take the path, because that would have been sensible, and we wouldn't have increased the probability of both of us getting squished, either by rocks or the fall," the ledge she had clambered on was large enough for her to be able to take a brief rest before continuing the climb.

"Well, I don't want to meet any Gorons during a mountainside stroll," Skye said hotly, climbing out of the hat and floating in front of her,

"What, you're scared of Gorons?" Lynn asked, eyebrow raised, fighting the urge not to laugh,

Skye blushed, her glow becoming a light pink, "They kind of freak me out," she said quietly, not looking at Lynn, "They're big and rock-like, and they're just weird-looking,"

Lynn again fought the urge to giggle, "Well, think how you must look to them, Gorons are big and heavy, while you're small and light. And Gorons are known for their amiable natures, while _fairies_ on the other hand," she chuckled, "Have a penchant for mischief and trickery,"

Skye turned a bright red, before realising that Lynn was only joking with her. Lightly kicking the girl with her bare feet, she climbed back into the hat, "Onwards and upward, and don't forget, we're here for me too, the fairy spring up here is the nearest one to mine, so my friends could have come here,"

Lynn grabbed hold of the next ledge, testing it to check its sturdiness before pulling herself up, "Right."

* * *

Finally, after hours of long climbing (and a few falls, though no serious injuries), they made it to a cave. The sun had long set and the moon was shining its light on them.

Though both tired and exhausted, Lynn dragged herself into the cave. Once in the shelter, she immediately fell asleep, unable to do anything else.

* * *

While she slept, she began to dream. More specifically, she dreamt of the past. She saw a young boy dressed in green, followed by a fairy, take on various trials before drawing a sword of immense power, becoming a man and defeating a great evil. Returning to his youth, he searched for a lost friend, travelling to another world and eventually coming face to face with yet another evil, though this one threatened to bring down the moon and destroy everything. Defeating this evil, the boy once again travelled onwards.

Fast-forwarding a hundred or so years, she saw a similarly dressed young man travel across the land, followed by an imp. At times he would become a blue-eyed wolf, until eventually he defeated the evil the first boy had defeated a century ago, but he lost a good friend in the process.

* * *

Lynn awoke with a start. It was still dark, and the moon still hung in the sky like a ball that refused to fall. Skye mumbled something in her sleep about 'great big rocky freaks', as she held onto Lynn's hair. As much as Lynn tried to concentrate on the dream, for it had definitely been one of great importance to her, the more it slipped away from her, like trying to hold water in your hands.

Shrugging, deciding to think on it more in the morning, Lynn turned over (onto a slightly more comfortable patch of dirt), and fell asleep again.

* * *

"Lynn wake up! You will not believe this!" Skye was shouting,

Lynn, however, was refusing to wake up, "Give me five more minutes," she moaned sleepily,

"Wake up now or I'll activate that magic in your arm and make you a fairy again!" Skye threatened jovially, but it did the trick, Lynn was wide awake,

"What is it?" Lynn asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes,

"Follow me! Come on!" Skye called to her as she whizzed further into the dark cave,

Lynn followed a lot more slowly. She was tired, and being cautious could save her life, especially since she didn't know what had got Skye so excited.

And then she saw it, and gaped. After turning a corner in the cave, it opened out, wide. There was a large, pool in the floor, with a veil of steam hovering over it. But this isn't what she was gaping at, she was gaping at the mass conglomeration of fairies, of varying different shades.

Skye was hovering nervously at the entrance, just next to Lynn.

Lynn whispered to her, "I wasn't expecting to find it so easily,"

"I didn't know where it was, all I knew was that it was that we had to search every nook and cranny of the mountain 'til we found it," Skye told her, bobbing up and down incessantly, "Tell me if you see someone with a dark purple glow,"

Lynn looked back towards all the fairies in the spring, "There's way too many Skye, when they're all close together like this I can't tell one glow from the other," she craned her neck out to look over the fairies, but was pushed back by Skye. Well, I say pushed, the small fairy wasn't that impressive in the strength department, but Lynn obliged, moving back.

"Please don't let them see you, fairies aren't all that great around non-fairies. If they see you, well, you probably won't leave looking like you do now, let me break the news to them, slowly," Skye told her,

"Hang on, my ancestors have had fairy companions before, and other fairies left them alone, what gives?" Lynn whispered, glancing out at the fairies, who were too busy talking amongst themselves to notice the comparatively large Hylian lurking just outside their cave,

"Well, in previous cases, your ancestors have been accompanied by a being of immense magical strength, or the situation called for a fairy to accompany them. I wasn't 'assigned' to you, so they can really do what they like," Skye explained,

Lynn gulped, glancing back into the cave. Then Skye added, "Don't worry, if it gets to that I'll distract them with the forest powers the Great Fairy gave me while you escape, now, let me just get in there..." she floated into the cave, above all the other fairies, while Lynn pressed herself against the wall of the cave to reduce the risk of her being noticed.

* * *

Skye rose to the centre of the cave, brightening her glow to draw the attention of those below her.

This was greeted by a squeal and a fairy with a dark purple glow sped in and tackled her, sending her speeding towards the opposite wall.

"Skye! I knew you'd show up eventually!" the small fairy exclaimed, hugging Skye,

"Hey Rhea!" Skye hugged her sister.

The two fairies, as sisters, had identical faces, but this was where the similarities ended. As stated before, while Skye has a white glow, Rhea had a dark purple one. Rhea's long brown hair contrasted with Skye's short blonde. Rhea favoured a small dark dress, while Skye preferred a light one. Rhea's skin was also a few tones darker than Skye's own.

"Are you alright? Some of the others, including our lot, went on ahead, I said I'd stay behind until you arrived. But you never did, I was about to give up," Rhea chattered on, before noticing that Skye wasn't really paying attention, "What's the matter? What took you so long to get here anyway?"

Skye hesitated for a second before replying, "Oh, my wing. I injured it in the panic. By the time it had healed up I didn't know where you'd gone."

Rhea considered this, before hugging Skye again cheerfully, "Well, you're here now," then she wrinkled her nose, and looked at Skye, "You smell funny,"

"What?" Skye asked, eyes wide,

"You smell..." Rhea took a couple of deep sniffs (not bad for someone with lungs the size of a small pebble), "I don't know, it smells sort of like those humans from the village we used to torment whenever they came to our spring," she brushed some dirt off of Skye's dress, "Have you been hanging out with non-fairies? You know that's forbidden," Rhea was now looking at Skye accusingly,

Skye squirmed uneasily under Rhea's gaze, "...Alright, yes, I have been helping out a non-fairy. They offered to help me return to you and the others. In return I'd help her as much as I could before I got back,"

Rhea pushed her back against the wall and whispered, "You didn't bring one up here did you?"

"Um, yes-"

"Non-fairy! There's a non-fairy in the area!" Rhea shouted at the top of her lungs, drawing the attention of every fairy in the cave, hushing them into silence, which was unfortunate as Lynn had chosen that moment to curse at her misfortune. Go figure.

"Get it! Get the non-fairy!" Rhea screamed, drowning out Skye's cries of protest. The hundreds of fairies drew themselves up in an angry cloud of shimmering colour, heading for where Lynn's voice came from.

Today _really_ didn't look like it was going her way.

* * *

_Action-y!_


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_Blargity blarg blarg._

_"'And when the life's blood of the last of your line mixes with that of a virgin girl, I shall rise again, more powerful than you will ever imagine.'  
'And with that, he lopped her fucking head off.'"_ - Camilla and Narrator, Lesbian Vampire Killers

Chapter Thirteen

Skye threw Rhea back, "Stop!" she threw her arm out, and a wall of vines covered the entrance before the fairies could reach Lynn.

Lynn breathed a sigh of relief as the fairies were unable to reach her through the magical barrier.

The fairies then realised that Skye had done something that wasn't exactly normal.

Rhea looked at her, "How did you learn to do that?"  
Skye rubbed her arm, which was in slight pain after bringing up the barrier, "Great Fairy... in the forest... we helped her out," Skye lowered herself down to the water, her tiny feet creating ripples in the pool, before removing the barrier at the entrance, "Lynn, show them," she took a deep breath, visibly weakened by the magic use,

Lynn looked at her, ignoring the large crowd of fairies who were looking from the young fairy to the Hylian and back again, "What do you mean?"

Skye lowered her legs into the water, "I mean activate that thing on your arm," she gasped as the magical healing properties of the spring ran through her system, relieving the aches and pains in her body.

Lynn groaned, did she really have to? However, not eager to see the fairies agitated again, remembered what the Great Fairy had told her, and focussed her energies into the fairy shaped mark on her arm.

* * *

At first, nothing happened, then the little mark start glowing through her gauntlet, then it started burning. The burning sensation spread through her veins, until the pain built up to a point where she just _had _to scream.

Unknown to her, every blood vessel the pain spread through began to glow brightly, until the light was bright enough that she wasn't visible aside from her outline.

As she felt her body shift and change, she cried out again as four wings unfurled from her back.

As the light faded, she felt herself floating, to the astonishment of every fairy present in the cave.

"See?" Skye said, "I know I shouldn't have brought her up here, but I was lost and scared and she's nice,"

"Skye, why did I have to shift into fairy form?" Lynn asked, standing awkwardly at the cave entrance, even though the mass of fairies had floated off and continued their chattering as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, that's just so they won't attack you, we're forbidden from attacking each other, in that form you're one of us," Skye explained tiredly, ignoring Rhea, who was floating above her, "Come over here,"

Lynn went over to near where Skye was, as the tiny fairy rose up to meet her. Then she was stopped by Rhea.

"What do you think you're doing going near my sister! I don't care if you can change your form, you're still not a fairy and I will not let you near my sister!" Rhea shouted hotly at Lynn, her glow flashing red,

This tipped it for Skye, "Rhea! Leave her alone! She's my friend. You know, I thought it'd be nice to meet up with my family and friends again and yes, the agreement I had with Lynn was that after I found you guys I was going to leave her, but now I think I'll stick with her a bit, at least she doesn't tell me who I can and cannot like, unlike you Rhea. You've been telling me who I can and can't be friends with since we were both old enough to speak and I am tired of it! Where did the others go?" Skye demanded of her sister, her glow now a threatening blue,

Rhea, unused to being spoken to in such a way, especially by her younger sister, stammered before replying, "Th-they went to the fountain at Lake Hylia," Rhea sniffed and flew away,

Skye landed in Lynn's hair, "Alright, I guess we should head to the Goron village now, we're done here," she said moodily,

Lynn looked up at her, "Are you okay?"

"Fine,"

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No,"

Then another fairy interrupted their conversation, "Hey, if you want to reach the Goron village, there's a path on the other side of the cave straight there"

"Thanks," Lynn smiled as the fairy flew off to rejoin its group,

"Ugh," Skye groaned, "I was hoping we could put it off for a few more hours,"

Lynn laughed as she headed to the other side of the pool, onto the path and towards the Goron village.

* * *

Lynn had shifted back to her Hylian form (strangely, transforming into something brought with it a considerable amount of pain, while the reverse was a rather pleasant sensation) as they exited the cave. What Lynn had not been expecting was that the cave opened out onto a ledge, high above the path they were supposed to be on.

"So, what do you think? Jump?" Lynn asked Skye,

"Lynn, you can turn into a fairy. Who can fly. This isn't hard," Skye told her,

"Oh no, I'm not doing it twice in one day," Lynn said, "It's not the great of a drop, if I jump and then roll before I hit the ground, I should be fine. And even then, a fall from this height wouldn't do more than cause a slight injury,"

"Or, you know, just, forgo the injury altogether and turn into fairy form, float down and then turn back," Skye suggested, but Lynn had already run off the edge, forcing Skye to jump out of the hat as Lynn fell rapidly.

Rolling as she hit the floor, Lynn found herself upright and unharmed, "Well, that was exhilarating,"

Skye rolled her eyes, floating behind Lynn as she headed towards the Goron village.

* * *

It wasn't long before they found themselves inside again. The village, as it turned out, was made up of a large network of caves and caverns within the mountain. Fortunately, it was lit with torches. Unfortunately, every tunnel and corridor looked the same.

"I think we've been down here before," Lynn said, looking down yet another corridor,

"Oh, well that's great. First we're in the worst place I could imagine being, and now we're lost! Just great!" Skye shouted exasperatedly,

"I'm sorry, no need to lose your head," Lynn muttered, looking uneasily down another corridor,

"No, I'm sorry," Skye said, fiddling with a strand of Lynn's hair, "It's been a bit of a bad day. Had an argument with my sister, ended up near a Goron village where the creepy things could jump on us at any second, and now we're lost,"

"Hey, count yourself lucky, at least you have a sister who you know. I mean, I've got a brother, just no idea who or where he might be," Lynn told the little fairy,

"Oh, shut up," Skye laughed, "Oh! I have an idea. If you trail the blade of your sword through the dirt, then we'll know where we've already been, then we won't make the same mistakes twice,"

"Great idea," Lynn replied, pulling her sword out its scabbard and, holding it by its hilt, dragged the blade in the ground, leaving a trail behind her as she continued onwards through the tunnel.

* * *

After walking for another hour or two, eventually they found the entrance into the rocky, cavernous halls of the Gorons.

Skye immediately hid herself in Lynn's hat as Lynn approached the nearest villager.

"Excuse me," Lynn said, before stepping back a little as the Goron stood up and turned to her.

It was a massive creature. A good eight or nine feet tall at least. Its skin was tough and leathery, a light clay colour, which was patched over with grey rock-like growths. On the creatures' back a small mountain shaped growth grew. On its head were more growths, these were sparse, but almost like hair. The Goron grinned amicably, the skin around its blue eyes wrinkled.

Its skin was covered in white tribal markings, each shoulder adorned with the symbol of the Gorons, a three-toed, angular footprint. It was practically naked aside from a pair of loose-fitting shorts, a pair of huge gauntlets and very sturdy iron boots.

"Welcome to our village!" the big Goron said cheerfully (and loudly), "I am Dangoro, it has been a long time since I saw one of your race. The mountain has become a hazardous place of late, due to our dispute with the bird people above. How may I help you?"

Lynn, at first struck by the Goron's loudness and friendliness, quickly recovered and asked, "Hello, I was just up here visiting because some of my ancestors are sworn brothers with the tribe and I was looking for information about my family,"

Dangoro studied her for a second before pulling her into a crippling hug, "So, you are the latest in the Hero's line hmm?"

"Um... yes," Lynn choked, struggling to loosen the tight embrace, "How does everyone keep guessing that?" she gasped when Dangoro finally let her go,

"Oh, only a few non-Gorons have ever been sworn into the brotherhood and all of them were descended from, and including, the Hero of Time," Dangoro explained,

"Right, well, that's good, have you heard anything from my family in the last twenty years or so?" Lynn asked,

"Alas, I wouldn't know, young Hero's kin, but if you were to consult our leader, he may be able to tell you," the big Goron replied, leading her towards the leader's quarters.

"My name is Alynnedé Clearwater, but you can call me Lynn,"

"I'll bet your name has a story behind it," Dangoro smiled good-naturedly, as they walked out into the middle of the village, where natural sunlight flooded in. The village was located beneath the lip of the in-active volcano that Death Mountain was.

Dangoro looked up at the sky, sighing contentedly, before his eyes widened and he pushed Lynn to the side.

Lynn was thrown back into the artificial light of the torches, as Dangoro braced himself for the giant boulder falling down, right above him.

* * *

_Next chapter should contain dungeon-y action._


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_I'm sorry this took so long, writers block is suckish, and it should burn in hell. Also, this doesn't involve hot dungeon-y action as I promised, but I do explain game mechanics in a realistic manner, woo!_

_"Adults are just obsolete children, and to hell with them."_ - Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Chapter Fourteen

Dangoro grabbed the rock, groaning as it pushed him back a little, using his considerable strength (which was more than his size would show). Shifting his arms to get a better grip, he grunted as he span around, using his momentum to throw the rock back out of the mountain.

It broke as it flew, before losing momentum and falling onto the mountain below, effectively creating more danger on the paths below.

Dangoro looked towards Lynn, grinning before he saw that she had been thrown with enough force to smack straight into the rock wall of a Goron's hut, with a sickening crunch.

Skye was floating over her, fretting so much she didn't notice the big Goron as he ran over to them.

"Whoops, didn't mean to throw you that hard," Dangoro said guiltily, leaning down next to Lynn's prone form,

Nothing appeared to be broken, but her nose was bleeding and there was a large gash in her leg where a particular sharp rock in the wall had caught on it.

Lynn coughed and spat out some blood, before speaking, "I'm okay," she attempted to sit up, before clutching her side and gasping, "Except for that rib, that doesn't feel great,"

"Oh great, you've only gone and hurt her, you great brute!" Skye shouted at Dangoro, her previous fears forgotten,

"The hot springs have healing properties, she should heal quickly if we get her there," Dangoro said, making to pick Lynn up,

"Oh no you don't buddy!" Skye shouted at him, zooming in front of Lynn so as to protect her friend against the being several hundred times her own size and several thousand times her own weight, "You'll cause another injury,"

"I'm only trying to help," Dangoro told her a little ashamedly.

Skye then realised she'd actually _hurt_ the big Goron's feelings. Being rock apparently didn't give you a heart of stone (har har).

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm a little on edge right now," Skye told him, then sighed, "Okay, if you're careful, then you can carry her,"

Dangoro, now his cheery self once again, lifted Lynn up (surprisingly delicately for a being of his size and strength), and carried her to the hot spring.

Lynn kept up a non-stop conversation with Dangoro and Skye the whole way, which Dangoro thought was her being friendly and saying it wasn't his fault, and Skye thought it was Lynn being delirious and concussed after being thrown into a wall. Take your pick.

* * *

Later, Lynn was healed up and ready to meet the Goron leader, who Dangoro called the Patriarch.

"At the eve of his leadership, the Patriarch was said to be the greatest Goron wrestler in our tribe. Which is, after all, how he came to be our leader in the first place," Dangoro explained as they reached the Patriarch's hut, while Skye muttered something about 'Politics', 'rocks-for-brains' and 'no wonder they're so huge'.

Gesturing for Lynn to enter first, he announced their arrival, "Great Patriarch, I bring a visitor, a daughter of the Hero. She wishes to know if her family has made contact within the last two decades or so,"

The three of them entered, and Lynn was shocked to see a Goron even bigger than Dangoro. Aside from a large rock-like beard, he was near identical to Dangoro (as did every other Goron, they just weren't as big), however he only wore shorts.

Getting down on one knee, Dangoro bowed his head in respect to the leader, "Great Biggoron, this is Alynnedé Clearwater, of the Hero's clan,"

Biggoron snorted as he inspected Lynn, "I was expecting a son of our sworn brother, not a daughter,"

Lynn blushed and did what she always did with figures of authority, begin looking resolutely at her feet, "Please sir, I'm looking for any information about my family. Has anyone from my family been up here on the mountain in the last twenty or so years?"

Biggoron hooked a finger under her chin, making her look up at him, "No need to be afraid, I don't bite," he grinned, showing huge, tombstone teeth, "And unfortunately, no, not one person of your clan has on this mountain for the last hundred years. However, that is not to say we have not had contact, why, it was just last month I received a letter from-" a huge crash outside interrupted him, looking out of his window he exclaimed, "Argh! Those darn birds! They dropped another one!"

"What is it with you and these 'bird people'" Lynn asked,

"We're not sure, we had quite peaceful relations with them until about a month ago, when they started throwing rocks down on us. We've been unable to get up there to contact them, we're too big, and the few scouts we sent never returned. Eventually we had to start throwing everything they dropped because so much space was being taken up and our buildings were getting wrecked," Biggoron looked at the young woman, "Do you mind giving us a hand? If we get you up there, they might listen to you and stop dropping these rocks on us. If not, we might at least find out why they've become so hostile,"

"Not at all," Lynn replied warmly, "Now, how am I getting up there?" she asked, looking out the window at the lip of the volcanic crater.

* * *

"You just _had_ to help them out didn't you? Now we're going to get thrown out of a volcano!" Skye shouted at Lynn, as they prepared to get to the bird peoples home outside of the mountain,

"We'll be fine," Lynn said cheerily, though she was slightly nervous,

"Did you see how easily that rock broke when it was thrown out? That could be you in two minutes," Skye told her sourly, knowing she wouldn't be able to change Lynn's mind,

"I'll be fine," Lynn repeated determinedly,

"You ready to go?" Dangoro asked her, Lynn hesitated before nodding, "Then hold on tight,"

They'd been put in a round cage (made of Dodongo (large reptiles, live in places with high temperatures) bones). Three Gorons lifted the cage, and carried it to the middle of the crater.

Lynn held onto the bars, bracing herself, and then Dangoro said, "Go!"

The three Gorons lifted the cage with all their might, powering it out of the lip of the volcano and out into the open air.

* * *

Lynn had gritted her teeth, while Skye screamed as they sped upwards, before they felt a curious sensation of weightlessness, before falling back down towards Death Mountain.

With a crash, Lynn rolled out of the cage, unharmed aside from a few cuts and bruises.

Crawling back to the lip of the volcano (she didn't trust her legs at the moment), she looked down as Dangoro gave her a thumbs up,

"See you soon!" he boomed, before curling up into a ball and rolling off.

Lynn fell onto her back, gasping for breath. Skye had passed out and was snoring in Lynn's hat.

After recovering, Lynn was on her feet and cautiously scouting the nearby village out. It was suspiciously empty, so Lynn searched for the largest building, because if the last few settlements were anything to go by, the biggest, most indicated where the leader of the place lived.

After sneaking up to the back of the building, she quietly edged herself around it until she was near the entrance.

Peeking in, she saw a group of four or five people huddled around a table. They didn't look like 'bird people' as the Gorons had put it, in fact, the only thing bird like about them was that they had hard yellow, beak like noses instead of soft fleshy ones.

"What are they up to?" Skye whispered,

"Nothing, they're just talking, can't hear," Lynn told her,

"What are you doing?" asked a new voice,

Lynn whirled around, almost squeaking in surprise if it weren't for the hand over her mouth. The new arrival was one of the so-called 'bird people'.

Hurrying Lynn over to the other side of the village, away from the large hut, the 'bird person', a young female, her size suggesting that she was about twelve or thirteen years old, removed her hand from Lynn's mouth, "I'll ask again, what are you doing?"

"Uhm," Lynn hesitantly searched for an excuse, "Finding out what's going on,"

"With the Gorons? Yeah, I understand and I'm letting you know right now that not all of us have this vendetta against them," she said,

"The rock dropping thing?" Lynn asked, and was answered with a nod, "Why are they doing that?"

The girl wrinkled her beak, flicking a lock of her feathery brown hair out of her eyes, "The guardian spirit of the Rito, that's us, sits within a cave upon the mountain. His tail hangs down below the cave, within the mountain itself. Recently he has been agitated and unapproachable, so logic dictates that something within the mountain is attacking him. As the Gorons are the only creatures within the mountain that we know of, it seems logical that they have something to do with it," she explained,

"Makes sense, but the Gorons are peaceful, they wouldn't attack something unless there was good reason. And even then, we didn't see a tail down there in the village," Skye explained,

"I know, I'm guessing you were sent up here to find out what's going on and try and patch up the relations between our two races?"

Lynn nodded,

"Right, well, I'm helping out, there is another cave that leads directly into the mountain below. The Gorons used to have a mine there, so they excavated it a bit, but there's still a lot left unexplored," she explained,

"Woah, hang on, moving a bit fast aren't you? We don't even know your name, and while we'd be glad for the help, it'd be nice to know what you can do," Skye told her, flashing a calm blue,

"Oh, well, my name is Aveline. And as you can see, I'm smaller than you, so I can fit through small tunnels and caves. Also, a rite of passage we Rito go through is to collect a scale from our guardian spirit. Doing so allows us to grow our wings," Aveline explained,

"Wings? I don't see any wings," Skye interrupted,

Aveline through her arms out, her bare skin and hands erupting into a pair of large wings, before folding them back into her arms again, "As I was saying, I can fly considerable distances, so I could reach places where you normally couldn't, or, for example, if two buttons needed to be pressed and there was a great impassable chasm between them, I would be able to fly over and press it for you," she then tilted her head, "If you carried me on your shoulders and took a run-up, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to carry you as well,"

"That's great," Lynn said, "That could be really useful, but do you have any combat ability? There could be monsters in there, and if you're going off on your own..." she looked at the ground, "I don't want that on my conscience,"

Aveline pulled a long-knife from a strap tied against her bird-like leg, "I've got this, we're all trained in combat, survival thing," she put the knife back, "Now can we please get moving before the other Rito come back with a giant rock?"

"Right, yeah," Lynn said, following Aveline as they made their way down the mountain.

* * *

_What I don't get is that when I write it in word it always takes up more space than it does here._


	15. Chapter Fifteen

I'm sorry this took so long! Writer's block and nervousness about exam results (which weren't the greatest) means this took longer than it should have. So, enjoy the sort of long awaited but not really cos no one actually reads this chapter fifteen.

_"I used to not care. I just went along with orders and hoped that everything would work out for me. But after all that's happened, you know what I've learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean, you should hate someone because they're an asshole or a pervert or a snob, or they're lazy or arrogant or an idiot or a know-it-all. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate a person because someone told you to; you have to despise people on a personal level, not because they're red or because they're blue, but because you know them and you see them every single day, and you can't stand them because they're a complete and total fucking douchebag."_ - Leonard L. Church, Red vs Blue

Chapter Fifteen

As they reached the cave mouth, Lynn thought of another problem, "Oh no, wait. This won't work,"

"What? Why not?" Aveline enquired,

"Well, think about it, if we get separated, then how are we going to stay in contact?"

"That's a good point..." Aveline bit her lip, then shook her head, "I've got nothing,"

"Great, neither do I," Lynn said, sitting down on a rock,

"Well, I sort of have an idea," Skye said, a little ashamedly,

"What?" Lynn asked, looking up at the young fairy, whose glow had gone a delicate shade of pink,

"Well, Rhea and I are twins and as magically inclined creatures we can establish a telepathic link. If I were to get her, and we establish that link, then we'd be able to communicate between the two of us while going through here, which we can extend so we can remain in constant communication while doing so," Skye explained,

"Great! Let's do that, where is this Rhea?" Aveline clapped her hands, before seeing Skye's sour expression, "What's up?"

"The two of them had a fight, earlier today," Lynn explained, "And Rhea is at the fairy spring on the side of the mountain, we wouldn't be able to get there and back without being seen by the Rito. And besides, she doesn't like non-fairies,"

"Well, I would go," Skye said, in hushed tones, "Except she's been following us since we left the spring, I've been sensing her presence the whole time, I've just been ignoring it. And trust me, it's not that she doesn't 'like' you, but more that she's scared of you," she grinned slyly,

"I am not!" a voice shouted from behind a rock, before a fairy, glowing dark purple, rose up from behind the rock,

"Hey Rhea," Skye giggled, "You gonna help us out or what?"

Rhea went bright red, "No, I am not! I'm not helping _them_ out,"

"Cucco," Skye said,

"What did you call me?"

"You know, a cucco? It's like a chicken except the wings are strong enough to grant even an adult human a gliding flight. But it's still a chicken," she smiled wickedly, showing her teeth,

Rhea flashed red, "How dare you? I was _going_ to apologise, but now I don't think I will," she folded her arms, huffing,

Skye looked at her for a few seconds before sighing, "Look, if you want to apologise, help me and Lynn out. I promise after this you can do what you like," she looked away, "This is important for Lynn, she needs to find out information about her brother, and the only way she's getting it is if she sorts out the Rito and Goron problem," Skye extended her hand to her sister, "We only need to cooperate this once,"

Rhea looked at Skye's hand before taking it, "Okay, but only this once, then I'm going to the others at Lake Hylia,"

"There we go," Skye said quietly, so only Lynn could hear her as she settled in the Hylians ear as Rhea floated towards Aveline, at what she considered a reasonable distance.

* * *

As it turned out, the cave led into a mineshaft. And, quite coincidentally in fact, there were large chasms and cliffs which required Aveline be on the other side to open doors and lift staircases out of the floor to reach certain points through the use of buttons, levers and pulling of chains.

Other than that, this dungeon was just as linear as the last. With the two girls fighting together, Lynn using her regular technique, hack and slash with her sword until it isn't moving anymore, while Aveline would adopt a similar technique with her knife, but would occasionally fly into the air and attack the opponent from above.

After making their way through several floors and basements, Rhea asked a question, "What possible reason would Goron's need a mine for?"

"Well, we know they live on a diet of rocks, maybe they were digging for some," Lynn replied, slicing a keese (a rather vicious bat-like creature, which also happened to be on fire for some unknown and slightly unnerving reason) in two,

"A rock is a rock, all they have to do is look around a cave, won't take long," Rhea replied scornfully,

"Yeah, well, rocks are to Gorons what food is to other races. Some kinds are going to be more nutritious than others," Aveline pointed out, stunning another keese with the flat of her blade,

"No one asked you beaky," Rhea snapped,

Skye flashed red as she slammed into Rhea, "Would you stop insulting them! Seriously, it's getting stupid, one more insult out of you and we're leaving you in here," Skye threatened, her glow dimming in an ominous way,

Rhea shut up, and mostly stayed away from Aveline as much as she could (except for the few times where Aveline had to crawl through a small ventilation shaft into a parallel room to solve a puzzle or open a door so the party could proceed), until they entered a wide open room, the atmosphere within eerily reminding Lynn of a room she had entered while below the Fairy Fountain in the forest.

* * *

Lynn motioned for Aveline and Rhea to stay back for a second as she entered the relatively circular room (I say 'relatively' because the two doors (that were opposite each other) were set into the walls, leaving slight dents in the otherwise smooth shape of the room).

As she neared the middle of the room, the ground in front of the doors cracked open, and walls of flame opened, leaving Lynn and Skye trapped in the circular room, with Aveline and Rhea stuck behind a wall of fire and unable to provide assistance.

There was a rumbling from beneath the floor, and Lynn flipped back instinctively as a large lizard sprung out of the ground.

It was similar to the Dodongos (the large, particularly violent, fire-breathing salamanders mentioned earlier) that Lynn had fought with while they were trekking through the caves, however it was much larger, and had a club-like, spiked tail.

Drawing her sword and raising her shield, she stood her ground against the large Dodongo as it hissed at her.

It span around, its spiked tail bouncing off her shield. Lynn stumbled away from it, trying to keep her shield up but her arm had gone numb because of the brute force the beast had hit the shield with.

Skye briefly flashed purple before Aveline's voice emitted from her, "Lynn! This is a juvenile King Dodongo. They're much larger than regular Dodongos and while it's agitated like this you won't be able to hit it. However, if you don't make yourself too visible or stay still it shouldn't be able to see you."

"Can't I maybe lure it into the fire?" Lynn asked, backing slowly towards the shaded wall,

"No, Dodongos have a fireproof exterior. However, their insides aren't, so if you could get an explosive in there, you'd be good. Unfortunately the only explosives around here are bomb flowers, and there aren't any in here," Aveline replied,

Lynn sighed, rubbing her aching arm and looked at the ground, "Not quite,"

"What?"

"Well, there's a dried up plant here, looks like the stem of a bomb flower, except sort of dead," Lynn looked up at Skye, "The bomb flower is technically a plant, could you use those forest powers to make it grow?"

Skye looked at the plant uneasily, "Uh, yeah, I could, but it'll take me a little while. If you distract dragon breath over there while I do it," she landed next to the dried up bomb flower, glowing green, "Go,"

Lynn nodded, making to move over the other side of the room, when Skye projected Aveline's voice again, "Lynn, the tail isn't immune to attack, so hitting it will draw its attention long enough for Skye to finish up the bomb flower,"

"Right," Lynn said, withdrawing an arrow from her quiver as she readied her bow, her eyes on the King Dodongo as she moved across the room to the other side, staying in the shadows of the walls so it wouldn't see her.

* * *

As she reached the other side, she shakily launched the arrow towards the club-like tail of the Dodongo. It missed, clattering off one of the tail spikes. The Dodongo either didn't hear it, or didn't care, however, it _did_ notice when Skye flickered brightly to fuel the growth of the explosive fruit.

Panicking slightly, Lynn drew another arrow, her hand steady. She launched the arrow, and it hit the beast right in the soft skin of the club-like tail.

The Dodongo emitted a harsh screech of pain, before spinning around to face Lynn, or rather, where the pain had come from, it could not see anything because of the shadows. It hissed out a breath of fire, which was mostly for show due to the distance between them. When its foe didn't move, the Dodongo growled, stepping slowly towards the place where the pain had come from.

Then another arrow flew into its tail from the left. Screaming in pain again, it span around, but its foe was once again gone. It roared out into the air, before curling into a ball and rolling at a high speed. It did this in an attempt to hit something, but only succeeded in smashing into a wall. Unfazed, it turned around and roared again, stalking into the centre of the room and looking around.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lynn was back with Skye, who had successfully given life back to the fast-growing bomb flower, and was now hiding in Lynn's hat.

The bomb flower is a curious fruit. It is roughly fist-sized, with a smooth, blue-black surface, and a small red and yellow flower sprouting from the top, like a bomb fuse, hence the name, 'bomb flower'.

Pulling the fruit from its stem, Lynn turned to the Dodongo and shouted, "Hey ugly!"

The Dodongo turned at the sudden noise, its mouth open wide and roaring,

Lynn threw the small explosive fruit, the fuse-like flower had begun burning. It flew into the open mouth of the Dodongo, and exploded.

The Dodongos stomach bulged out comically, before it fell onto its back, revealing a soft underbelly.

Lynn jumped onto the Dodongo and plunged her sword into the beast. It screamed its last, and died.

Lynn slumped to the floor as the walls of flame died down to cinders, her shield arm aching, "Knowing our luck we're not even halfway," she muttered, wincing as she put her dented shield on her back.

* * *

_I'm sorry if this sucks, writer's block makes writing like wading through a lake of 3 foot deep mud that is slowly drying in the sun. The further you get, the harder it gets._


	16. Chapter Sixteen

_I'M SORRY :(_

_"Oh shit. I see your time travelling hottie and raise you a room full of dead bodies!"_ - Pete, Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

Chapter Sixteen

Aveline ran over to Lynn, "Are you okay?"

Lynn rubbed her arm gingerly, before slowly loosening the straps on her gauntlets, "Apart from my arm, fine, that thing hit really hard," she winced as Aveline helped her slide off her gauntlet and rolled up her sleeve and then gritted her teeth as she saw her arm.

Her right arm, from her wrist to her elbow, had quickly become decorated with a purple-blue bruise.

"Oh Din, that's nasty," Aveline said, invoking the name of one of the creator goddesses, "Can you move your fingers?" Lynn curled her fingers into a fist and then uncurled them again, "Right, good, is anything broken?"

"I don't think so, it's just really sore," Lynn said, biting her lip,

"Well, I didn't bring any bandages, and you can't use that arm, so we're kind of in trouble," the Rito girl said, scowling,

Lynn rose unsteadily, her arm hanging loosely to her side, "We'll make do," she walked over to the door, and Aveline helped her to slide it open.

* * *

Not much later, in a dark tunnel-like corridor, Skye and Rhea both flashed brightly.

"What is it?" Lynn asked, wincing as she moved her arm,

"This... this is..." Rhea muttered excitedly, bobbing up and down,

"The Fairy Fountain of Death Mountain..." Skye finished,

Lynn's eyes widened, "You're kidding me,"

Rhea ignored her, speeding off down a side tunnel. Skye shouted for Lynn and Aveline to follow and sped off in hot pursuit.

Lynn and Aveline reached the end of the tunnel, which ended rather suddenly. The two fairies were nowhere to be seen.

"Skye?" Lynn called out, "Rhea?"

Skye popped out of the apparent dead end, "Come on!" and zoomed back through,

Lynn and Aveline looked at each other questioningly, then cautiously stepped toward the wall.

* * *

To their surprise, they appeared to go right through the wall, finding themselves in the suddenly cooler climate of a fairy fountain. The crystals here were a bloody red, and a Great Fairy, her hair a dark red but otherwise identical to the last, was hovering above the fountain.

"Young Alynnedé Clearwater, you've done well to make it this far," she smiled,

"Uh, thank you," Lynn said uneasily, blushing a little,

"You come seeking my aid I believe?" the fairy cocked her head to the side, studying Lynn, who blushed more, "Your arm?"

Lynn dropped her head, her hair covering her eyes, "Yes, I injured it in the fight against a juvenile King Dodongo,"

"Oh, you fought the King Dodongo did you?" the fairy asked, "I remember that thing's daddy, nasty piece of work, well, until your ancestor showed up that is, nice boy, you have his eyes," she grinned cheekily, "Now, about your arm..." she waved her arm, and Lynn's arm glowed a soft blue.

Suddenly, the pain was gone, and the bruise which had covered her arm a mere moment before had vanished. Though Lynn couldn't see this through her gauntlet, she was glad of the relief.

"Thank you," Lynn said, briefly looking up at the Great Fairy, before looking down again, and turning to leave,

"Oh, Lynn, one more thing. From here on in, the dungeon is going to get more perilous and it's going to get a lot hotter. My sister tells me she gave you a gift, so, I guess it's my turn..." she waved her arm again, and Lynn's entire form was encased in a soft blue light.

* * *

When the light faded, Lynn found herself wearing different armour.

Her hat (which was now red with a fiery motif at it's tip) was now accompanied by a helmet like attachment which appeared to be the skeletal remains of a dragon's maw.

Her shoulder pauldron had been replaced with a rock-like equivalent, which was cracked and the innards glowed orange. Her boots resembled those she had seen Dangoro wearing, made of iron.

Her undershirt was now covered with what appeared to be leathery, scaled skin. Her gauntlets were made of bone covered in the same material. Over this she wore thick, charcoal-like armour.

Her gloves were black, and glowed orange, ending in claws.

The Great Fairy smiled at her work, "Do you like it?"

Lynn nodded slowly, examining her new armour,

"It's made from the remains of a dragon who lived in this mountain for a long time. Your armour is impervious to fire, and you will receive less damage when struck. You're also much heavier now, but the magic within the armour means you can move at your regular speed. You no longer have need for your shield, and you can attack enemies at a closer range using your hands, which can also emit fire, which you can activate by channelling magic through them." the fairy explained, before turning to Skye and Rhea,

"Skye, you have received the powers of the forest from my sister, and I grant you access to my fire powers. With them you can create fire, and control it, if necessary," she waved her arm again, and Skye glowed a fierce red,

"And Rhea, I have strengthened the connection between you and Skye, now you and she can communicate across larger distances," she turned back to Lynn, "Finally, I grant you this hammer," a large hammer appeared in Lynn's arms, which she hefted easily, "Use it for smashing, or something,"

"Thank you," Lynn said shyly, looking at the hammer rather than at the fairy,

"Right, well, I'm off then, Aveline look after her, alright," the great fairy winked at the Rito, who smiled, before sinking into the fountain.

"Yes ma'am," Aveline grinned, before looking at Lynn, "Come on, let's go,"

* * *

Back in the tunnels, Aveline looked up at Lynn, "What's with you?"

"What?" the older girl replied, confused,

"You froze up in there, what's going on?"

"Oh, that, I just..." Lynn sighed, "I don't like talking to figures of authority, I don't know why, I just... get nervous, I guess,"

"Right... well, I guess we should move on," Aveline said gently,

"Right," Lynn replied with renewed determination, slotting the large hammer into a new belt slot on her back, before retrieving her sword.

* * *

Lynn soon found that, in her new armour, she could swing the sword a lot harder and faster, dealing twice as much damage to foes,

She also found that she could throw bomb flowers a lot further, and Aveline could quickly convert bomb flowers into actual bombs, storing them in a pouch she'd fashioned out of Dodongo skin.

Eventually, they made it to a large, cavernous room.

Up above them, protruding from a point where one of the walls met the ceiling, a long scaly tail hung.

"That's the tail of our great guardian, so what's causing it's distress?" Aveline asked, looking around,

Suddenly, the walls began shaking violently, and a large, insectoid creature (and by large, I mean freaking huge) with hundreds of clicking legs, a pair of deadly sharp mandibles and a singular, terrifying eye, sprang out from beneath the ground below and latched itself onto the guardian's tail.

"At a guess, I'd say it was that," Lynn said drily, Aveline nodding in stunned agreement.

* * *

_THIS TOOK FOREVER AND I'M SORRY :(_

_I was going to call the hammer MegaCrush Hammer, before I realised how stupid that would be._


End file.
